I  LIBRARY  I 

I      UNtVBtSITY  OF     j 


LIBRARY 
SCHOOL 


16 


jH-^Ud^ 


SfnjZKJUUJ 


x 


/c^A/^^y^yfj^^yUA^^uyJ . 


John  Bellows 


LETTERS  AND   MEMOIR 


EDITED   BY   HIS  WIFE 


WITH 
PORTRAITS,   MAP,   AND  OTHER  ILLUSTRATIONS 


KEGAN  PAUL,  TRENCH,  TRUBNER  &  CO.  LTD. 
DRYDEN  HOUSE,  GERRARD  STREET,  W. 

1904 


SCHOOt 


TO 

MY  DEAR  CHILDREN 

AND  TO  THE 

BELOVED  MEMORY  OF  MY  HUSBAND 

THIS  BOOK  IS  DEDICATED 


849 


PREFACE 

IN  THE  following  pages  I  have  given  a  selection  of 
such  of  my  husband's  letters  as  were  available  for 
publication :  leaving  them,  as  far  as  possible,  to  tell  their 
own  story,  and  supplementing  them  with  a  slight  sketch  of 
his  life.  For  the  sake  of  brevity,  I  have  been  obliged  to 
omit  many  letters  of  considerable  interest ;  whilst  others, 
for  the  same  reason,  have  been  curtailed.  Chronological 
order  has  been  adhered  to  in  the  correspondence,  except 
in  a  few  instances  where  subject  order  has  appeared 
preferable. 

My  task  in  editing  this  volume  would  have  been  more 
difficult  but  for  the  advice  and  assistance  of  my  friend 
Miss  Stephen,  of  Cambridge,  to  whom  I  offer  my  grateful 
thanks.  Her  fine  critical  faculty  and  literary  taste  have 
been  of  exceptional  value  to  me  in  the  selection  of  the 
letters.  My  thanks  are  also  due  to  Dr  Thomas  Hodgkin 
for  his  help  on  certain  archaeological  subjects  :  to  the  many 
friends  who  have  placed  letters  at  my  disposal  for  pub- 
lication :  and  to  my  son  William  for  the  valuable  assistance 
he  has  given  me  in  the  work. 

The  frontispiece  is  a  reproduction  from  a  photograph 
taken  in  1891  by  Mr  H.  W.  Watson,  of  Gloucester.  The 
portrait  facing  page  357  is  from  the  painting  by  Percy 
Bigland,  exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy  in  1902,  and 
now  in  my  possession.  A  replica  of  this  painting  has 
recently  been  presented  to  the  City  of  Gloucester  by  my 
husband's  friends,  and  placed  in  the  Guildhall.  The  out- 
line illustrations — excepting  those  on  pp.  22  and  78 — are 
facsimiles  of  my  husband's  own  sketches  in  his  letters. 


ELIZABETH  BELLOWS. 


Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester. 
Aprily  igo4. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I. 


PAGE 


Parentage — Early  Life— Settles  in  Gloucester — Religious  Con- 
victions —Marriage — Max  Mtiller — Cornish  Antiquities — Outline 
Dictionary i 

CHAPTER  II. 
Work  at  Metz — Views  on  War — French  Dictionary — Discovery 
of  the  Roman  Wall  of  Gloucester — Roman  Antiquities    ...       15 

CHAPTER  III. 
Cornish    Friends— Death    of    his    Parents — ^Religious    Corre- 
spondence— Vals  and  the  Auvergne — Loss  of  a  Child— 'Upton 
Haoll'  built 33 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Home  Rule  Struggle 61 

CHAPTER  V. 
Travel — Home  Life — Archaeology — Tithe— J.  A.  Froude    ...      70 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Joseph  Neave— Journey  to  Russia — Minden — St.  Petersburg   .     .     100 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Journey  to  South  Russia — Count  Tolstoi — Vladikafkas— Through 
the  Mountains — Magnificent  Scenery — Arrival  at  Tiflis  .     .     .     117 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Incidents  of  Stay  at  Tiflis 136 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Visit   to   the   Kedabek  Mines — Doukhobor  Village — Caucasian 
Scenery— Elizabethpol—Udzharri 155 

CHAPTER  X. 
Tartar  Caravanserai— Brigandage— Shusha— Armenian  Villages 
— Gerusi— Ali    Akber— Funeral    Scene  —  Evelach  Station- 
Return  to  Tiflis 176 

CHAPTER  XL 
Visit  to  Bashketchet 212 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Kutais  —  Poti— Farewell  to  Tiflis— Flowers— On  the  Black  Sea- 
Sevastopol— Little  Russia— St.  Petersburg  again— At  Count 
Tolstoi's — Return  to  England 221 


CONTENTS— continued. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Oliver  Wendell  Holmes— Senator  Hoar— American  Antiquarian 
Society — Paignton— Letters  on  Religious  Subjects — Latin  v. 
Saxon — Archaeology— Tolstoi — Khama — Chelsea 246 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Relief-work  in  Bulgaria  and  Constantinople 273 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Quakerism — Ancient  Rights — Peace — The  Hague  Conference — 
Forest  of  Dean — Seeds  from  Borneo — Transvaal  War — Letter 
on  Peace 290 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
The  Doukhobors— Second  Journey  to  Russia 318 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Visit  to  the  United  States — Philadelphia— Worcester — Boston — 
Plymouth — Concord — Harvard  University 338 

CHAPTER  XVni. 
Trials  of  Faith— Tolstoi's  'Resurrection' — Lake  District — Cor- 
respondence with  Senator  Hoar — The  Divinity  of  Christ  .     .     357 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
Traits  and  Characteristics — Conclusion 375 

APPENDIX. 
A  List  of  John  Bellows'  writings. 

INDEX. 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


PORTRAIT   OF   JOHN    BELLOWS,   Aged   6o,    from 
A  Photograph       Frontispiece 

REPRODUCTION    OF    A   PORTION    OF    FRENCH 
DICTIONARY  MS facing  page  24 

UPTON  KNOLL 11         50 

MAP  OF  THE  TRANS-CAUCASUS         1.        117 

PORTRAIT    OF    JOHN    BELLOWS,    Aged    70,    from 
THE  Painting  bv  Percy  Bigland n       357 


HANDLOW   HOUSE,   CHURCHAM  ...     Page  22 
BIRTHPLACE  AT  LISKEARD  ...        „      78 


OUTLINE   ILLUSTRATIONS 
FROM  JOHN  BELLOWS'  OWN  SKETCHES 

APPEAR   ON 

pp.  30,  31,  45,  88,  179,  183,  188,  191,  193,  19s, 
197,  198,  199,  203,  214,  216,  217  and  278. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PARENTAGE— EARLY  LIFE-SETTLES  IN  GLOUCESTER— RELIGIOUS 
CONVICTIONS  -  MARRIAGE  —  CORNISH  ANTIQUITIES  -OUTLINE 
DICTIONARY. 


JOHN  BELLOWS  was  the  elder  son  of  William  Lamb 
and  Hannah  Bellows,  and  was  born  at  Liskeard, 
Cornwall,  on  January  i8,  1831. 

William  Bellows  was  a  native  of  Bere  Regis,  Dorset- 
shire, and  came  of  a  Nonconformist  stock.  His  maternal 
ancestor,  Philip  Lamb,  was  vicar  of  Bere  Regis  in  1662, 
and  was  one  of  the  clergymen  who  were  ejected  from 
their  livings  after  the  passing  of  the  Act  of  Uniformit5\ 
From  the  Bellows  and  the  Lamb  families  several  Inde- 
pendent ministers  sprang;  two  notable  ones  being  John 
Angell  James,  who,  half  a  century  ago,  was  a  well-known 
figure  in  Birmingham  ;  and  Robert  Halley,  William 
Bellows'  first  cousin,  who  was  Principal  of  New  College, 
London,  and  who  died  in  1876. 

Hannah  Bellows'  maiden  name  was  Stickland,  and  her 
father,  John  Stickland,  was,  from  boyhood  to  old  age, 
in  the  service  of  the  Bond  family,  as  bailiff  and  steward 
of  East  Holme,  their  estate  near  Wareham. 

After  their  marriage  William  and  Hannah  Bellows 
resided  at  Liskeard,  where  their  two  children  were  born. 
Subsequently  they  removed  to  Wallis,  a  hamlet  near 
Liskeard ;  and,  later,  to  Tavistock,  in  Devonshire. 

It  is  not  now  known  what  William  Bellows'  occupation 
was  at  this  time,  though,  later,  he  found  in  the  profession 
of  a  schoolmaster  work  that  was  entirely  congenial  to 

A 


2  PARENTS  AND  SCHOOL 

him.  He  was  a  man  of  unusual  mental  ability  and  force 
of  character,  and  had  had  the  benefit  of  a  good  education. 
He  knew  Hebrew  well  enough  to  be  able  to  give  lessons 
in  it ;  and  the  study  of  that  language  was  always  a  great 
delight  to  him,  even  to  the  end  of  life. 

During  the  early  years  of  their  married  life  the  young 
couple  made  the  acquaintance  of  William  and  Anna 
Forster,  the  parents  of  William  Edward  Forster,  the 
statesman,  who  was  then  a  child  ;  and  they  were  frequent 
visitors,  with  their  children,  at  their  home  at  Bradpole, 
near  Bridport.  In  later  life  John  Bellows  used  to  tell  of 
William  Edward  Forster's  toys — the  carefully  kept  toys 
of  an  only  child  who  had  outgrown  their  use — being 
brought  out  on  these  occasions  for  his  entertainment. 
The  younger  son  of  William  and  Hannah  Bellows  was 
named  Forster  after  this  family. 

The  strong  influence  exercised  by  these  friends  on  the 
religious  opinions  of  William  and  Hannah  Bellows  led 
to  their  leaving  the  Wesleyan  body,  and  joining  the 
Society  of  Friends,  of  which  Society  the  Forsters  were 
not  only  members,  but  also  ministers. 

In  1839  William  Bellows  was  appointed  master  of  the 
Friends'  School  at  Lisburn,  in  Ireland,  and  removed  there 
in  the  summer  of  the  same  year,  with  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren. They  remained  at  Lisburn  two  years,  and  then 
returned  to  England,  settling  at  Camborne,  in  Cornwall. 

There  were  many  Friends  living  at  Camborne  at  this 
time,  and  William  Bellows  started  a  school  amongst  them 
with  some  prospect  of  success.  His  own  sons  were  taughi 
by  him  in  the  school  as  they  had  been  at  Lisburn,  and, 
in  fact,  his  son  John  never  had  any  other  schoolmaster. 
William  Bellows  was  a  strict  disciplinarian  in  an  age 
when  the  rod  was  not  spared,  and  so  anxious  was  he 
not  to  show  any  partiality  to  his  own  children,  that  he 
was  often  more  severe  with  them  than  the  occasion 
warranted.     In  spite,  though,  of  his  stern  rule,  an  old 


APPRENTICESHIP  3 

pupil,  still  living,  speaks  of  him  with  much  tenderness, 
and  even  veneration. 

At  a  time  when  there  was  no  talk  of  "  Nature  Study," 
he  used  to  make  country  walks  pleasant  to  his  pupils, 
and  always  had  something  interesting  to  tell  them  about 
the  things  they  saw.  It  was  his  aim  to  make  his  pupils 
observant,  and  to  help  them  to  think. 

When  John  Bellows  was  fourteen  years  old  he  was 
apprenticed  to  Llewellyn  Newton,  a  printer  at  Camborne, 
who  also  kept  a  lending  library.  John  Bellows*  employer 
was  a  leading  Methodist  in  the  town,  and  was  always 
spoken  of  by  his  new  apprentice  as  conscientiously  living 
up  to  his  religious  profession.  He  was  very  considerate 
to  his  new  boy,  and  allowed  him  to  take  from  the  library 
any  book  that  he  liked,  when,  as  frequently  happened, 
he  was  sent  long  distances  into  the  country,  on  errands. 
That  his  employer  might  not  lose  anything  by  granting 
him  this  permission,  John  Bellows  trained  himself  to  walk 
very  rapidly  while  reading,  and  as  Llewellyn  Newton 
never  withdrew  the  privilege,  we  may  infer  that  it  was 
not  abused. 

Among  the  books  which  he  read  on  these  walks  were 
Scott's  novels  and  poems ;  but  a  conscientious  objection 
to  reading  fiction  grew  with  him,  and  he  subsequently 
gave  it  up  entirely.  So  keen  was  his  memory  at  this 
time  that,  after  reading  "Marmion"  only  once,  he  could 
repeat  a  couple  of  pages  of  it  by  heart. 

The  chief  intellectual  help  for  the  young  men  of  Cam- 
borne was  to  be  found  at  the  Mechanics'  Institute,  with 
its  library  and  lectures  ;  and  of  these  John  Bellows  made 
great  use.  Some  of  the  essays  he  wrote  then  are  still 
in  existence. 

Before  the  end  of  his  apprenticeship  he  brought  himself 
into  some  notoriety  by  a  poem  which  he  had  written  on  a 
Roman  Catholic  movement  in  Camborne,  that  was  attract- 
ing attention  there. 

A2 


4  SETTLES  IN  GLOUCESTER 

The  noise  his  little  satire  made  in  the  neighbourhood 
brought  him  the  notice  of  a  Roman  Catholic  lady  living 
in  the  town,  and  she  invited  him  to  dine  at  her  house. 
In  after  years  he  could  not  remember  if  his  father  knew 
of  this  invitation,  but  his  mother  did,  and  it  was  with 
many  misgivings  that  she  let  him  accept  it.  The  boy's 
curiosity  was  roused,  and,  naturally,  he  wished  to  go, 
though  he  would  have  given  way  at  once  if  his  mother 
had  objected. 

He  found  a  number  of  guests  present,  but  no  one  made 
any  mark  on  his  memory  except  his  hostess,  and  a 
foreign  priest  who  spoke  English  imperfectly.  These  two 
tried  to  flatter  the  lad  with  the  vision  of  what  he  might 
become  if  he  had  the  education  that  it  was  in  their  power 
to  procure  for  him  ;  but  their  advances  were  in  vain. 

At  the  close  of  his  apprenticeship,  John  Bellows  went 
to  London  to  get  work.  After  six  months  at  Harrisons', 
the  Queen's  Printers,  his  health  broke  down,  and  he 
returned  to  Camborne.  He  was  not  long  idle,  however, 
for,  on  the  offer  being  made  to  him  of  a  position  as  fore- 
man of  a  small  printing  business,  in  the  low-lying  part  of 
Gloucester  known  as  "  The  Island,"  he  accepted  it,  and 
removed  there  at  once.     This  was  in  the  summer  of  185 1. 

John  Bellows  had  not  been  in  the  practice  of  beginning 
work  so  early  in  the  day  as  was  the  custom  at  Gloucester, 
and  it  was  his  duty  here  to  open  the  office  for  the  work- 
people every  morning  at  six  o'clock.  When  he  undertook 
his  new  duties  he  was  determined  always  to  be  punctual, 
and,  though  it  was  the  middle  of  summer,  he  went  to  bed 
every  night  at  eight  o'clock,  to  be  ready  for  rising  in 
time  in  the  morning.  When  he  had  become  accustomed 
to  his  new  environment  he  relaxed  this  rule  ;  but  he  was 
never  once  late  in  unlocking  the  office  door  for  the  first 
twelve  months  in  his  new  situation. 

The  flood  at  Gloucester  in  1852  was  a  remarkable  one, 
and  he  was  young  enough  to  enjoy  it.     "The  Island" 


NOMINAL   QUAKERISM  5 

became  accessible  only  by  boat,  and  the  needs  of  its  in- 
habitants were  the  care  of  the  Corporation,  who  supplied 
them.  At  this  time  John  Bellows  was  living  in  lodgings 
a  little  removed  from  the  flood,  but,  so  long  as  it  lasted, 
he  had  to  remain  in  the  printing  office.  He  used  to  tell 
with  glee  of  having  helped  to  supply  the  wants  of  his 
next  neighbour,  whose  distress  was  keener  than  his  own, 
by  fastening  bread  and  meat  to  a  broom,  and  passing  it 
from  his  upper  story  window  to  hers  ;  and,  also,  of  a  case 
of  illness  in  the  next  house,  when  a  doctor  had  to  be 
sent  for  who  was  small  enough  to  be  got  through  the 
window  from  a  boat  in  the  flooded  street  below. 

The  first  seven  years  of  John  Bellows'  residence  in 
Gloucester  was,  perhaps,  the  most  momentous  period 
in  his  life,  and  had  a  very  marked  effect  in  building 
up  that  character  which  was  afterwards  to  make  him  so 
useful  in  his  day  and  generation.  The  change  from  a 
nominal  to  an  actual  belief  in  the  truths  of  Quakerism 
which  he  experienced  at  this  time  is  best  told  in  his  own 
words  : 

"  Brought  up  in  the  Society  by  parents  who  had  become 
Friends  from  conviction,  I  had  taken  for  granted  that  its 
teachings  were  pure  Christianity — that  is,  in  theory — 
until  at  twenty  years  of  age  I  was  brought  face  to  face 
with  the  tremendous  realities  which  sooner  or  later  con- 
front every  human  soul.  My  take-it-easy  Quakerism  went 
to  pieces  in  the  storm,  and  at  this  critical  moment,  under 
the  influence  of  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England,  I 
had  very  nearly  built  up  in  its  place  a  traditional  belief  in 
the  opposite  doctrines  of  the  sacraments  and  such  system 
of  worship  as  fits  with  their  observance. 

"It  was,  however,  made  clear  to  me  that  before  making 
the  important  change  this  would  involve,  I  was  bound  to 
do  what  I  had  never  yet  done,  and  that  was  to  examine 
for  myself,  with  all  the  light  I  could  obtain,  and  with  all 
the  earnestness  of  one  newly  awakened  to  a  consciousness 


6  VITAL  CHANGE 

of  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come,  the  foundations  of  the 
doctrines  held  by  the  Society  of  Friends.  I  read  Barclay's"* 
arguments  especially,  and  with  them  the  texts  both  of  the 
New  and  of  the  Old  Testament  which  he  cites,  till,  after 
many  anxious  days  and  nights,  the  light  shone  on  them 
steadily  and  brightly  as  the  sunrise  in  a  cloudless  sky,  and 
I  was  made  as  sure  of  the  truth  of  what  the  world  calls 
Quakerism  as  I  was  of  my  own  existence." 

At  this  time  the  Friends  were  leaving  off  the  character- 
istics that  had  distinguished  them.  These  were  their 
peculiar  dress  and  the  use  of  what  had  been  called 
amongst  them,  "the  plain  language,"  which,  at  the  time 
of  the  rise  of  the  Society,  had  simply  meant  that  they 
refused  to  follow  the  changing  fashions  in  dress,  and,  that 
they  observed  strict  truthfulness  in  their  intercourse  with 
their  fellow  men.  In  the  case  of  the  language  it  was  also 
a  protest  against  using  to  inferiors  the  singular  pronouns 
''thee"  and  "thou,"  while  equals  and  superiors  were 
addressed  by  the  plural  "you,"  which  was  the  custom  at 
the  time  of  the  rise  of  the  Society.  The  Quakers  made 
no  such  distinction,  looking  on  all  men  as  equal  in  the 
sight  of  God.  The  costume  adopted  by  the  Friends  soon 
after  they  came  into  being  as  a  Society,  was  simply  the 
dress  of  the  period,  denuded  of  its  ornaments.  This  dress 
has  come  down  almost  to  our  own  time,  with  various 
modifications  to  suit  individual  convenience.  Up  to  this 
time  John  Bellows  had  not  worn  the  dress,  nor  used  the 
language  peculiar  to  Quakers ;  but  now,  taking  counsel  of 
none,  he  was  impressed  with  the  belief  that  there  was  no 
escape  for  him  from  adopting  both  ;  in  this  way  showing 
plainly  to  his  fellow-men  that  a  vital  change  had  taken 
place  in  his  life. 

He  never  shrank  from  a  course  that  he  felt  it  right 
to  take,  because  of  the  pain  involved  in  it.  He  never 
chose  the   easier  way.     The  change  of  dress   was  not 

*  Barclay's  Apology. 


GIVES  UP  SMOKING  7 

so  much  of  a  trial  to  him  as  the  change  in  speech ; 
but,  having  made  up  his  mind  as  to  his  right  course  he 
never  faltered,  though  at  times  the  anguish  of  mind  that 
he  passed  through  was  almost  more  than  he  could  endure. 
He  thought  it  necessary  to  explain  to  the  work-girls  under 
him  the  great  change  that  had  taken  place  in  his  outlook 
on  life,  and,  that  for  the  future  he  would  have  to  address 
them  in  Quaker  language,  though  he  had  a  morbid  dread 
of  the  manner  in  which  this  might  be  received.  Those 
who  knew  him  later  can  imagine  the  scene  when  he 
melted  these  rough  girls  to  tears  by  his  narrative.  One 
of  them,  when  he  had  finished,  became  spokeswoman  for 
the  rest,  assuring  him,  with  tears,  that  they  hoped  he 
would  never  shrink  from  doing  and  saying  what  he  felt, 
in  his  conscience,  to  be  right. 

Besides  the  two  points  that  have  been  mentioned  there 
was  but  little  to  alter  in  his  outward  life,  except  that  he 
had  acquired  the  habit  of  smoking,  and  he  now  felt  very 
strongly  that  if  he  would  save  his  soul  he  must  no  longer 
be  the  slave  of  any  habit.  It  cost  him  a  mighty  effort 
to  give  it  up,  but,  coming  on  the  coach  from  Ross  to 
Gloucester  in  the  darkness  of  a  winter  night,  he  threw 
over  the  hedge  all  the  paraphernalia  of  a  smoker  that  he 
possessed,  and  the  struggle  from  that  moment  was  ended. 

About  this  time  two  rooms  in  a  house  which  had  hitherto 
been  used  as  a  warehouse  attached  to  the  printing  office, 
were  placed  at  his  disposal,  and  furnished  by  him,  and 
here  he  spent  much  of  his  leisure  time  alone,  reading  and 
studying  and  laying  the  foundation  of  those  stores  of 
knowledge  with  which  in  later  years  he  was  wont,  in 
his  own  inimitable  way,  to  delight  his  friends. 

In  1858  circumstances  forced  him  to  make  a  change 
in  his  position,  his  employer  having  announced  his  in- 
tention of  giving  up  his  printing  business.  Under  this 
expectation,  which,  however,  was  not  fulfilled  until  later, 
John  Bellows'  friends  at  Gloucester  and  elsewhere  urged 


8  GOES  INTO   BUSINESS 

him  to  go  into  business  on  his  own  account.  He  had 
many  offers  of  loans  of  money  to  help  him  to  make  a 
start ;  but  he  was  not  ambitious,  and  it  was  only  with 
reluctance  that  he  began  to  entertain  the  idea  of  having  a 
business  of  his  own.  The  counsel  of  his  friends  eventually 
prevailed,  and  he  set  about  the  preliminary  arrangements 
in  his  own  vigorous  fashion.  He  took  premises  in  Com- 
mercial Road,  Gloucester,  bought  machinery  and  materials, 
and  embarked  on  this  new  phase  of  his  career. 

His  father  and  mother  now  joined  him  at  Gloucester, 
and  added  to  his  happiness  by  making  a  home  for  him 
there ;  first,  in  rooms  over  the  printing  office  in  Commer- 
cial Road ;  and  then,  when  the  business  grew  and  needed 
more  space,  at  Albion  Cottage,  Montpellier. 

John  Bellows'  business  was  at  first  on  so  small  a  scale 
that  he  did  not  feel  justified  in  having  any  help  in  it,  and 
in  these  early  days  he  often  worked  all  night  long.  After 
a  while  he  engaged  a  boy,  who  formed  the  nucleus  of  the 
little  staff  of  workpeople  that  John  Bellows  gradually 
gathered  about  himself;  but  the  most  important  change 
that  he  made  in  these  early  years  was  the  introduction  of 
a  steam  engine  into  his  printing  office :  the  first  that  had 
ever  been  used  in  printing  in  Gloucester. 

In  1863,  Edward  Power,  the  leading  printer  in  the  city, 
died ;  and  his  executors  invited  John  Bellows,  whose 
reputation  as  a  printer  was  growing,  to  purchase  the 
business.  The  terms  of  payment  were  made  easy  for 
him,  and  he  consented,  thus  becoming  the  owner  of  the 
larger  concern  at  6  Westgate  Street,  where  he  now 
went  to  reside. 

The  following  years  were  closely  occupied  in  meeting 
the  greater  responsibilities  of  life.  His  business  grew,  it 
might  almost  be  said,  in  spite  of  himself,  and,  by  degrees, 
all  the  borrowed  money  with  which  he  had  begun 
business,  was  paid  off ;  but  it  was  done  by  the  exercise  of 
continued  and  great  self-denial. 


STUDIES  FRENCH  9 

His  onty  brother  having  settled  at  Brussels,  John  Bellows 
repeatedly  had  occasion  for  visits  to  the  Continent,  and 
this  circumstance  brought  to  his  notice  the  need  for 
dictionaries  that  could  really  be  used  as  pocket  diction- 
aries. He  now  conceived  the  idea  of  supplying  this  want 
himself.  His  first  thought  was  of  a  Norsk  dictionary,  as 
he  had  felt  the  need  of  one  on  a  journey  to  Norway  ;  and 
his  visits  to  the  docks  at  Gloucester  on  Sunday  afternoons, 
at  this  time,  with  Bibles,  on  behalf  of  the  Bible  Society, 
had  brought  him  into  contact  with  Norwegian  sailors,  from 
whom  he  had  picked  up  a  fair  knowledge  of  their  language, 
which  he  had  improved  by  study.  He  soon  found,  how- 
ever, that  there  would  be  no  great  demand  for  such  a 
work,  and  he  turned  his  attention  to  French  instead.  He 
knew  very  little  French,  yet  he  felt  this  to  be  no  bar,  but 
rather  a  help  in  the  successful  prosecution  of  the  work,  for 
he  was  thus  better  able  to  see  for  himself  the  needs  of  one 
who  was  to  use  such  a  dictionary.  While  learning  the 
language  he  worked  at  his  manuscript,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  managed  his  large  and  growing  business  ;  and  in  this 
manner  his  strenuous  life  went  on  for  the  next  seven 
years. 

But  neither  the  anxieties  of  his  business  life,  nor  the 
close  work  on  his  dictionary,  shut  his  ears  to  the  cry  of 
distress  of  his  fellow-men,  and  many  were  those  who 
appealed  to  him  for  help,  and  not  in  vain.  The  well- 
being  of  the  Society  of  Friends  was  at  all  times  a  great 
object  of  his  solicitude,  and  some  portion  of  his  time  was 
taken  up  in  the  earnest  discharge  of  his  duties  as  a 
member  of  that  body. 

On  New  Year's  Day,  1868,  Printing  Offices,  for  the  first 
time,  came  under  the  operation  of  the  Factory  Acts,  and, 
in  consequence,  in  the  early  days  of  that  year,  John 
Bellows'  establishment  received  an  official  visit  from 
Hugh  Granger  Earnshaw,  the  Factory  Inspector  for  the 
district  in  which  Gloucester  is  situated.     H.  G.  Earnshaw 


10  MARRIAGE 

was  much  attracted  by  John  Bellows  when  they%iet,  and 
invited  him  to  spend  a  night  at  his  house,  Springfield,  near 
Minchinhampton.  He  went,  and  it  was  during  this  visit 
that  he  first  met  his  future  wife,  Elizabeth  Earnshaw, 
the  sister  of  his  host,  and  the  daughter  of  the  late 
Mark  Earnshaw,  surgeon,  of  Clitheroe,  Lancashire.  Their 
engagement  soon  followed,  and  in  January,  1869,  they 
were  married  at  Clitheroe. 

In  the  previous  summer  John  Bellows  had  taken 
Handlow  House,  Churcham,  near  Gloucester ;  and  while 
it  was  still  his  bachelor  home,  he  had  had  the  pleasure 
of  welcoming  his  friend  Professor  Max  Miiller  to  it.  Their 
passion  for  philology  had  in  the  first  place  drawn  them 
together,  and,  though  their  opportunities  of  meeting  were 
not  frequent,  they  kept  up  a  friendship  and  a  cor- 
respondence that  lasted  for  life,  and  that  was  greatly 
valued  by  both ;  one  result  of  which  was  that  John  Bellows 
named  his  eldest  child  (a  son  born  in  June,  1870),  Max, 
after  his  friend. 

A  correspondence  with  Max  Miiller  had  been  begun 
some  years  before  this  period,  but  the  earliest  letters  that 
have  been  preserved  are  dated  1866,  and  deal  mainly  with 
Cornish  antiquities,  in  which  John  Bellows,  being  a 
Cornishman,  took  a  deep  interest.  His  friend's  replies  to 
some  of  these  early  letters  are  given  by  Mrs  Max  Miiller 
in  her  admirable  Life  of  her  husband. 

To  Professor  Max  Miiller^  staying  in  Cornwall. 

Gloucester,  1-9-1866. 
cc  -x-  *  ^  jj^g  etymology  of  names  of  places  is  in  a 
very  loose  state  in  the  county  [Cornwall.]  The  people 
are  almost  as  quick  as  the  Irish  are  at  coining  reasons, 
when  they  have  none  at  hand.  For  instance,  the  old 
Cornish  name  for  Falmouth  was,  they  say,  Penny-come- 
quick  ;  and  they  tell  a  most  improbable  story  to  account 
for  it.     I  believe  the  whole  compound  is  only  a  sort  of 


CORNISH  LANGUAGE  ii 

English  or  '  Saxon '  pun  upon  Pen  y  cwm  gwic,  '  Head  of 
the  creek  valley.'  In  like  manner  they  have  turned  Bryn 
whella,  'Highest  hill,'  into  Brown  Willy,  and  Cwm  tagoed, 
*  Woodhouse  valley,'  into  Come- to-good.  This  latter  fits 
on  somewhat  grotesquely  to  a  spot  where  there  is  an  old 
meeting-house  of  the  Friends,  still  occasionally  used  for 
public  meetings." 

To  the  same^  at  Oxford. 

Gloucester,  6-10-1866. 

ct  ^  -X-  ^  I  (Jq  j^q|-  think  there  is  any  evidence  of  the 
Jews  having  been  so  numerous  in  Cornwall  as  these 
traditions  assert.  These  traditions  are  really  inventions 
of  persons  who  wished  to  account  for  names,  the  true 
purport  of  which  had  been  lost  sight  of. 

"A  curious  instance  of  this  occurs  in  the  term  Nine 
Maidens.  Circles  and  groups  of  upright  stones  are  so 
called  in  various  parts  of  Cornwall,  and  although  several 
of  them  have  nine  stones,  yet  the  name  is  not  confined  to 
these.  The  circle  at  Boscawen-tin  is  called  a  'Nine 
Maidens,'  whilst  it  really  consisted  of  twenty  stones. 
Seventeen  of  these  are  upright,  two  are  thrown  down, 
and  a  gap  exists  of  exactly  the  double  space,  for  the 
twentieth.  I  found  the  missing  stone  not  twenty  yards 
off.  A  farmer  had  removed  it  and  made  it  into  a  gate- 
post. He  had  cut  a  road  through  the  circle,  and  in  such  a 
manner  that  he  was  obliged  to  remove  this  offending  rock 
to  keep  it  straight.  Fortunately  the  present  proprietress 
is  a  lady  of  taste,  and  she  has  surrounded  the  circle  with 
a  good  hedge  to  prevent  further  vandalisms. 

"The  Cornish  folk  will  tell  a  stranger,  in  reply  to  an 
enquiry  why  they  call  the  stones  nine  maidens,  that  '  Nine 
yoimg  women  danced  there  on  a  Sunday,  and  were  turned 
into  stone  for  a  warning  to  others.'  If  this  be  true,  the 
warning  must  have  had  very  little  effect— for  a  good  many 
other  damsels  have  undergone  petrifaction  on  the  same 


12  'NINE  MAIDENS' 

account,  especially  in  the  western  part  of  the  county. 
They  must  have  been  incorrigible  dancers !  I  think  I  can 
trace  the  origin  of  this  myth. 

"  The  word  medn  is  the  latest  or  most  corrupt  form  of 
min,  a  stone.  The  last  stage  of  the  language  was  marked 
by  this  thickening  of  the  nasals — as  pedn  for  pen  (in 
Pedn-an-drea,  etc.)  Now  the  true  sound  of  men  is  like 
the  Enghsh  'main,'  which,  plus  this  d,  gives  maiden 
precisely. 

''Nod  in  old  Cornish  was  'mark'  or  'token.'  This 
passed  afterwards  to  nos  and  nos.  Nod-m,en  meant  Stone- 
mark  or  token.  When  it  got  corrupted  to  noB  (during 
the  later  period  of  the  Cornish  language,  but  before  the 
introduction  of  the  English)  it  became  confounded  with 
naw^  'nine' — making  the  compound  'nine-stones.''  The 
tradition  still  lingering,  about  the  custom  of  erecting  a 
'  nine-stones  '  to  mark  something  memorable,  they  would 
continue  to  erect  them,  confining  themselves  to  nine  pieces. 
This  would  account  for  many  of  the  circles  actually  being 
in  nines ^  whilst  others,  bearing  the  same  name,  are  com- 
posed of  a  larger  number.  But  should  this  be  so,  it  would 
make  the  latter  the  move  ancient  circles  ?  They  are  also 
called  in  Cornish  Dawns-men^  '  Stone-dance ' — and  hence 
the  modern  tradition  about  the  '  dancing  on  a  Sunday.'  If 
the  original  was  No<^<^/is-men,  the  first  part  of  the  word 
would  be  a  regularly-formed  abstract  substantive  for 
'  memorial '  or  '  remembrance,'  corresponding  with  dew- 
hellaw5,  atonement ;  cregyaws,  belief,  etc." 

To  the  same. 

Gloucester,  9-10- 1866. 
"  There  are  several  spots  not  mentioned  in  the  County 
History,  or  in  the  guide-books,  which  ought  to  be  re- 
corded, and  carefully  watched  by  the  Penzance  club ;  or 
they  will  be  stripped  of  their  stones  to  make  way  for 
farm  improvements.     We  came  upon  one  (at  no  great 


VANDALISM  13 

distance  from  Boscawen-Gn)  by  accident,  in  missing  our 
way  in  the  fields.  It  appeared  to  be  the  remains  of  a 
strong  fortification  facing  the  slope  of  a  hill  to  the  west. 
Some  of  the  stones  had  been  used  for  building  a  cottage 
close  by ;  but  enough  was  left  to  show  an  immense  amount 
of  work.  In  another  field,  not  far  off,  was  part  of  a  '  nine 
maidens'— perhaps  the  third  of  the  circle  ;  the  rest  of  the 
stones  being  dragged  out  and  placed  against  the  hedge,  to 
make  room  for  the  plough.  This  spot  is  between  the 
recently  discovered  Beehive  hut  and  the  Boscawen-(in 
Circle,  but  out  of  the  public  road. 

"  I  heard  of  some  farmers  in  Meneage  (the  Lizard 
district)  who  dragged  down  an  ancient  Gothic  well  and 
rebuilt  it.  When  called  to  task  for  it  they  said :  '  The  ould 
thing  was  got  so  shakey  that  a  was'n  fit  to  be  seen ;  so  we 
thought  we'd  putten  to  rights  and  build  'un  up  fitty.^  I  need 
not  add  that  a  Cornish  farmer's  notion  of '  fitty ,'  in  restoring 
Gothic  architecture,  was  something  like  this 


To  the  same. 

Gloucester. 

"  When  at  Penzance  the  other  day,  I  got  hold  of  a  bit  of 
superstition  that  shows  a  satisfactory  fear  of  meddling 
with  ancient  monuments.  A  farmer  told  one  of  my  friends 
that  he  had  a  neighbour  who  '  haeled  down  a  lot  of  stoans 
called  the  Roundago,  and  sold  'em  for  building  the  docks 
at  Penzance.  But  not  a  penny  of  the  money  he  got  for  'em 
ever  prospered — and  there  wasn't  wan  of  the  bosses  that 
haeled  'em  that  lived  out  the  twelvemonth  :  and  they  DO 
say '  (added  the  farmer  with  great  emphasis)  '  that  some 
of  the  stoans  do  weep  blood,  but  I  don't  believe  that  ! '  " 

In  this  same  year,  1866,  John  Bellows  put  before  his 
friend  a  plan  for  a  skeleton  dictionary  "  in  which  travellers 
and  missionaries  might  record  the  vocabulary  of  any 


14  OUTLINE  DICTIONARY 

particular  language,  or  dialect,  they  wished  to  study." 
Professor  Max  Miiller  entered  warmly  into  the  scheme, 
compiling  a  key  alphabet,  and  writing  an  introduction  for 
the  book.  At  the  time  of  getting  ready  for  press,  John 
Bellows  had  the  offer  of  some  paper  that  had  been  made 
purposely  for  Confederate  bank-notes  during  the  American 
War  ;  but  it  had  failed  to  get  through  the  blockade,  and 
was  left  on  the  maker's  hands.  As  it  was  tough  and  thin, 
and  exactly  suited  the  work,  he  used  it  for  the  Outline 
Dictionary.  The  whole  edition  sold,  but  John  Bellows 
became  too  busy  ever  to  reprint  it. 


CHAPTER   II. 

WORK  AT  METZ-VIEWS  ON  WAR— FRENCH  DICTIONARY- 
DISCOVERY  OF  THE  ROMAN  WALL  OF  GLOUCESTER- 
ROMAN  ANTIQUITIES. 

UPON  the  outbreak  of  the  Franco-German  War  in 
1870,  the  Society  of  Friends  raised  a  large  sum  of 
money,  not  only  from  its  own  members,  but  from  others, 
for  the  purpose  of  assisting  the  non-combatant  peasantry 
who  were  suffering  in  consequence.  Members  of  the 
Society  were  invited  to  offer  their  services  to  go  abroad 
to  distribute  food  and  clothing  to  these  starving  people, 
to  meet  the  pressing  wants  of  the  moment.  These 
volunteers  were  expected,  if  possible,  to  pay  their  own 
expenses  ;  but  if  not,  they  were  met  out  of  a  private  fund 
belonging  to  the  Society,  so  that  every  penny  subscribed 
should  be  used,  without  any  deductions,  for  the  purpose 
for  which  it  was  asked. 

John  Bellows  was  one  of  these  volimteers,  or  commis- 
sioners as  they  were  named,  and  he  left  home  for  Metz, 
one  of  the  chief  centres  of  distress,  for  four  weeks' 
absence,  in  November,  1870,  five  months  after  the  birth 
of  his  eldest  child.  Most  of  the  Friends  who  gave  their 
help  in  this  cause  were,  like  himself,  business  men  who 
could  not  spare  more  than  a  month  away  from  their 
own  affairs ;  but  so  many  volunteered  that  it  was  not 
difficult  to  keep  up  a  succession  of  them  for  the  many 
months  that  this  work  lasted.  It  was  not  without  its 
dangers,  for  the  condition  of  the  region  in  and  about 
Metz  after  Bazaine's  surrender,  just  before  the  arrival 
of  the  Friends,  was  so  insanitary  that  out  of  the  twelve 


1 6  WORK  AT   METZ 

delegates  who  were  there  when  John  Bellows  arrived, 
or  who  came  while  he  was  there,  eight  were  ill  (five 
from  small-pox.)  One  of  these  died,  and  it  was  John 
Bellows'  painful  duty  to  attend  her  funeral  on  the  last  day 
of  his  stay  at  Metz.  At  first  the  work  of  reUef,  which  was 
systematically  conducted  over  districts  radiating  from 
Metz,  consisted  of  the  free  distribution  of  food  and  clothing ; 
but,  as  time  went  on,  and  the  future  need  of  the  sufferers 
was  foreseen,  work,  where  possible,  for  some  of  them, 
was  obtained,  and  seed-corn  and  steam-ploughs  were  sent 
from  England  to  provide  for  the  next  season's  sowing,  the 
English  commissioners  co-operating  with  a  committee  of 
French  gentlemen  for  this  purpose ;  all  the  time  receiving 
every  possible  assistance  from  the  German  authorities. 
Each  of  the  Friends  was  furnished  with  a  document  in 
English,  with  French  and  German  translations,  which  set 
forth  their  aims  as  follows : 

"The  bearer  of  this  document  is  sent  out  by  the  Religious 
"  Society  known  in  England  as  the  Society  of  Friends, 
"  commonly  called  Quakers,  solely  to  give  relief  to  the 
*'  non-combatant  sufferers  through  the  present  war. 

*'We,  the  members  of  the  above-named  Society  of 
"Friends,  believe  all  war  to  be  contrary  to  the  Will  and 
"  Spirit  of  our  Heavenly  Father,  as  shown  in  the  New 
"  Testament ;  but,  moved  by  Christian  love,  we  desire  to 
"  alleviate,  as  far  as  may  be  in  our  power,  the  misery  of 
"  non-combatants,  irrespective  of  nationality,  remembering 
"  that  all  are  children  of  One  Father,  and  that  One  Saviour 
"  died  for  all. 

"We  therefore  entreat  all  to  whom  the  bearer  may 
"  come  to  aid  him  in  the  fulfilment  of  his  mission." 

John  Bellows'  letters  home  to  his  wife  during  this 
month's  absence  were  as  frequent  as  the  circumstances 
would  permit.  He  generally  carried  a  sheet  of  paper  in 
his  hat,  to  jot  down  a  few  lines  as  he  could,  when  he  was 
on  his  errands  of  distribution.     On  his  return  home  he 


*  TRACK  OF  THE  WAR*  17 

was  frequently  asked  to  lecture  on  his  experiences  ;  but 
the  exigencies  of  his  own  business  affairs,  rendered  more 
urgent  by  his  absence,  gave  him  no  leisure  to  do  so  ; 
and  in  order  to  meet  the  wishes  of  his  friends  he  arranged 
his  letters  to  his  wife  in  pamphlet  form,  and  published  them 
under  the  title  of  "  The  Track  of  the  War  around  Metz." 

The  concluding  paragraph  of  the  introduction  to  the 
little  book  is  given  here,  as  it  shows  so  forcibly  that  he  did 
not  deceive  himself  into  believing  that  he  had  been  en- 
gaged in  a  peculiarly  religious  work.  This  paragraph 
shows  the  uncompromising  honesty  of  his  character.  He 
says,  *'Some  remarks  which  I  have  repeatedly  heard 
induce  me  to  add  a  word  on  a  common  delusion  with 
regard  to  what  are  called  philanthropic  movements,  such 
as  this  for  aiding  the  War  Victims.  Many  people  regard 
them  as  religious  works,  and  inconsiderately  praise  those 
who  are  engaged  in  them  as  if  they  were  engaged  in 
some  Divine  mission.  They  even  quote  Scripture  in 
support  of  such  a  notion,  such  as  passages  about  visiting 
the  widows  and  fatherless  in  their  affliction,  and  the  like. 
All  this  is  but  false  sentimentalism,  calculated  to  mislead 
those  who  seek  after  reality  in  the  things  which  are  of 
weightiest  moment  to  all.  It  is  lawful  to  aid  distress  by 
sums  of  money  publicly  raised  and  distributed,  just  as  it 
is  lawful  to  engage  in  one's  own  daily  business  ;  but  it 
is  a  confusion  of  ideas  to  imagine  that  this  has  anything 
to  do  with  the  religious  and  far  different  duty  which  lies 
between  each  individual  soul  and  the  Creator.  It  is  not 
the  silent  work  which  hides  from  the  left  hand  what  the 
right  hand  doeth  ;  it  is  not  in  any  way  directly  conducive 
to  personal  holiness,  the  attainment  of  which  is  the  avowed 
object  of  every  religious  act  we  perform.  So  far  indeed  is 
the  busy  'philanthropic'  working  which  is  now  so  popu- 
lar, from  being  a  necessary  accompaniment  of  a  healthy 
religious  life,  either  in  an  individual  or  a  society,  that  it  but 
too  often  marks  a  stage  of  decline  from  all  that  constitutes 

B 


1 8  MEMORIES  OF  THE  WAR 

real  life  and  power,  and  but  too  often  it  is  secretly,  yet 
unmistakeably,  leaned  upon  as  an  easy  means  of  compro- 
mising for  the  neglect  of  closer  and  weightier  duty." 

The  little  book  gave  graphic  details  of  the  sad  scenes 
he  had  witnessed  on  this  errand  :  scenes  which  only 
deepened  his  conviction  of  the  iniquity  of  War.  Its  closing 
lines  may  here  be  given. 

"  Often  when  alone  these  memories  of  Metz  fill  me  with 
a  gloom  I  cannot  describe.  When  I  used  to  read  in  news- 
papers, before  going  there,  the  figures  giving  the  killed 
and  wounded  after  a  battle,  they  were  mere  statistics  and 
nothing  more.  Now  they  are  no  longer  so.  Manly  and 
sorrowful  faces  rise  before  me  of  some  who  have  fallen 
victims  in  the  struggle,  and  give  a  startling  reality  to  the 
words — '  Whoso  hateth  his  brother  is  a  murderer,^ 

"  Of  the  material  ruin  of  the  war  no  enduring  effect  will 
remain.  The  burnt-down  houses  may  be  rebuilt, — the 
devastated  fields,  now  that  England  gives  her  help,  will 
soon  be  re-sown.  I  only  see  the  torment  and  sorrow  and 
death  it  has  everywhere  left  in  its  track— the  poor  miser- 
able man  shrieking,  writhing  in  a  pool  of  his  own  blood— 
the  white-haired  old  general  at  Gravelotte,  bending  with 
a  broken  heart  over  the  grave  of  his  child — the  nailmaker's 
wife  in  the  Thionville  road,  crying  in  a  despair  more  bitter 
than  death,  as  she  turns  her  face  to  the  wall  when  her  son 
is  mentioned— her  only  son,  from  whom  she  is  never  to 
hear  one  parting  word,  and  never  to  receive  even  the 
most  sombre  souvenir.  And  when  I  remember  that  many 
hundred  thousand  homes  like  theirs  have  no  more  hope  of 
happiness  until  all  this  generation  has  gone  down  to  the 
grave,  I  get  a  dim  and  vague  sense  of  a  suffering  to  which 
no  language  can  give  utterance.  The  mirage  that  men 
call  military  glory,  vanishes,  and  nothing  is  left  of  the  war 
but  its  cold  and  mournful  reality." 

Max  Miiller,  in  thanking  him  for  a  copy  of  the  book, 
had  put  this  question,  "But  what  would  you  have  done 


LETTER  TO   MAX  MCLLER  19 

if  you  and  your  wife  and  child  had  lived  at  Saarbrtick, 
and  the  French  had  come  to  bombard  the  town?"  to  which 
John  Bellows  replied  in  the  following  letter  : 

To  Professor  Max  Muller,  Oxford. 

Gloucester,  21-2-1871. 

*'I  candidly  admit  I  don't  know  how  to  answer  thy 
question :  What  would  I  do  if  my  wife  and  child  lived  in 
Saarbrtick  and  the  French  were  to  come  and  bombard  the 
town  ?  I  run,  mentally,  in  a  moment,  over  the  line  of  argu- 
ment that  suggests  itself,  and  find  myself  at  the  other  end 
of  that  line — bombarding  the  French.  But,  what  French  ? 
Those  who  came  to  Saarbrtick,  or  others  who  had  nothing 
to  do  with  that  ?  People  call  war  justice  on  a  large  scale ; 
but  the  mischief  is  that  it  is  only  the  vastness  of  the  scale 
that  prevents  our  seeing  there  is  no  justice  about  it. 

"  What,  for  example,  is  the  justice  of  killing  a  child  in 
Strasburg  who  never  heard  of  Saarbrtick  ?  I  should  look 
back  all  my  life  with  regret  upon  such  an  act,  if  I  had 
been  led  to  its  commission.  The  only  way  for  us  to  get  a 
really  just  view  of  such  cases  is  to  bring  them  home  to 
ourselves,  and  I  do  so,  thus :  My  house  is  attacked  by 
a  ruffian  who  would  make  *  no  bones '  of  killing  my  wife 
and  child  if  he  could.  I  beat  him  off.  He  runs  away  to 
his  own  house  and  bars  himself  in.  I  say  I  will  stop  this 
man  from  repeating  his  attacks  on  me  ;  I'll  burn  his  place 
down.  So  I  set  fire  to  the  place.  He  himself  may  or 
may  not  be  injured :  I  care  nothing  about  that ;  but  he 
has  a  little  child  as  innocent  as  my  own,  and  I  see  the  little 
thing  lying  in  torment  from  a  stone  falling  on  it  in  con- 
sequence of  my  work.  I  should  go  back  home  with  a 
feeling  that  would  never  leave  me  day  nor  night,  that  if 
there  really  is  a  Father  of  all,  to  whom  all  men  on  earth 
are  alike  dear— barring  their  wilful  acts — He  would  look 
down  on  me  as  guilty  of  a  very  cruel  deed  ;  and  no  plea 

B2 


20  VIEWS   ON  WAR 

that  I  could  bring  that  I  had  done  it  to  protect  my  own 
wife  and  child,  would  alter  it.  I  don't  find  fault  with  the 
individual  Germans  for  their  conduct — very  far  from  it.  I 
should  abhor  myself  were  I  to  endeavour  to  stir  up  any 
bitter  feeling  against  these  poor  fellows,  for  I  have  a 
sympathy  with  their  fate  that  very  often  when  I  am  alone 
finds  vent  in  tears.  They  are  brave  as  men  of  steel ;  but 
no  one  who  does  not  actually  come  into  contact  with  them 
can  tell  how  great  is  the  suffering  entailed  upon  them  by 
having  to  leave  their  homes  behind,  too  often  never  to 
return.  Where  a  young  man  does  this,  he  has  much  to 
act  as  a  counterbalance — the  excitement,  the  novelty,  the 
hope  of  returning  as  a  hero.  With  a  man  of  middle,  or 
more  than  middle  life,  it  is  far  otherwise.  The  intense 
sorrow  I  have  seen  stamped  on  the  faces  of  some  of  these 
I  shall  never  forget.  It  haunts  me,  and  makes  it  impossible 
for  me  to  look  on  the  war  from  any  political  point  whatever. 
That  some  good  may  arise  out  of  such  oceans  of  suffering 
and  evil,  can  hardly  be  doubted  ;  but,  whatever  it  may  be, 
it  is  dearly  bought — too  dearly  bought  at  the  price  of  so 
many  thousands  of  homes  plunged  into  grief,  so  many 
millions  of  tears  that  will  flow  on  for  years  in  every 
corner  of  Germany  and  of  France. 

"  I  am  aware  my  letter  is  still  no  answer  to  thy  ques- 
tion. The  really  Christian  standard  makes  no  provision 
whatever  for  such  contingencies.  It  tells  us  to  suffer  evil, 
to  love  our  enemies,  to  do  good  to  them  that  hate  us,  and 
a  variety  of  other  things  that  are  impossible  except  our 
actions  are  made  to  spring  from  a  new  Divine  nature. 
Where  this  change  into  a  new  nature  is  known,  I  believe 
a  man  will  not  even  feel  the  desire  of  vengeance  against 
those  who  wrong  him ;  and  where  it  is  not  known,  men 
ought  not  to  profess  Christianity  at  all,  since  this  is  its 
very  fundamental  condition. 

"Where,  on  the  other  hand,  it  has  begun  to  be  felt,  and 
yet  not  been  perfected,  there  will  arise  a  good  deal  of 


OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES  21 

inconsistency  in  people's  actions,  a  man  sometimes  making 
one  nature  his  motor,  and  at  others,  the  other  nature. 

"  The  peace  principle  it  seems  to  me  depends  on  the 
spiritual  state  of  the  individual,  as  to  its  being  carried  out ; 
not  at  all  on  mere  opinions,  whether  '  Quaker '  or  political, 
but  on  the  degree  of  a  man's  growth  into,  and  acting  from, 
the  Divine  nature  itself.     *    *    * 

"  P.S. — My  little  Max  flourishes  like  a  green  bay-tree  ; 
but  he  is  by  no  means  so  still  as  that  plant." 

A  correspondence  with  Dr  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes- 
begun  in  1867  and  continued  for  more  than  five-and-twenty 
years  until  the  close  of  his  life— proved  a  continual  source 
of  pleasure  and  interest  to  John  Bellows.  The  following 
letter  is  reprinted  here  on  account  of  its  allusion  to  the 
work  at  Metz. 

Boston,  March  19TH,  187 1. 

"  Dear  Mr  Bellows, 

'*  I  have  received  your  little  book  'The  Track  of  the 
War  around  Metz,'  and  have  just  been  reading  it  through 
from  beginning  to  end.  It  has  interested  me  very  much, 
and  inspired  me  with  new  respect  for  a  Christian  body 
which  sends  forth  such  missionaries  of  humanity  to  the 
suffering  multitudes  of  a  nation  alien  in  race  and  language, 
but  one  with  them  as  children  of  the  common  Father. 

"  Your  simple  narrative  of  what  you  did  and  what  you 
saw  is  worth  many  a  showy  volume  in  which  the  writer 
has  told,  for  the  sake  of  reputation,  of  the  sights  he  visited 
from  no  higher  motive  than  curiosity.  I  see  my  wife  at 
this  moment  deep  in  its  pages,  and  I  am  sure  it  will  find 
sympathising  readers  wherever  there  are  good  men  and 
women. 

"  It  struck  me  not  a  little  to  see  the  names  of  '  Fry '  and 
'  Barclay '  still  represented  among  the  Friends,  and  I  could 
hardly  forget  that  at  the  head  of  the  Sanitary  Commission 
in  our  late  war,  was  your  namesake  Dr  Henry  W.  Bellows. 

"  Let  me  thank  you  again  for  the  gratification  your 
striking  descriptions  and  indignant  protests  against  the<^ 


22 


LEAVES  CHURCHAM 


barbarisms  of  war  have  given  me,  and  thank  you  also  for 

your  kindness  in  remembering  me,  and  sending  me  a  book 

which  it  is  impossible  to  read  without  thinking  worse  of 

that  organised  ruffianism  which  we  dress  up  and  call 

'  War,'  and  better  of  the  quiet  people  who  have  so  long 

protested  against  it,  and  are  ready  to  do  all  they  can  to 

soften  the  calamities  it  inflicts  on  innocent  persons  who 

are  not  involved  in  its  acts,  though  they  have  to  share  in 

its  sufferings. 

"  Believe  me,  very  truly  yours 

"O.  W.  Holmes." 

In  1872  the  lease  of  the  premises  in  Westgate  Street 
had  nearly  expired  ;  and  by  this  time  John  Bellows  found 
his  business  there  much  cramped  for  room.  He  therefore 
purchased  Eastgate  House  (on  the  site  of  the  ancient  gate- 
way of  the  City,)  which  had  the  advantage,  for  his  purpose, 
of  having  a  large  garden  at  its  rear  ;  and  on  this  he  built 


H/INDLOW    HGV5E 


himself  a  more  commodious  printing  office.     On  its  com- 
pletion, early  in  1873,  his  business  was  removed  to  the 
new  premises,  and,  in  the  following  September,  the  pretty 
•flittle  country  home  at  Churcham,  in  which  he  had  taken 


FRENCH  DICTIONARY 


23 


so  much  delight,  and  where  his  three  elder  children  were 
born,  was  given  up,  and  the  family  removed  to  Eastgate 
House.  Here  his  aged  father  and  mother  came  imder  the 
care,  which  they  now  needed,  of  their  son  and  daughter- 
in-law. 

During  the  years  that  followed  John  Bellows'  marriage, 
the  work  on  his  Dictionary  had  not  been  at  a  standstill. 
He  had  expected  to  complete  it  in  a  year  from  its  com- 
mencement ;  but  the  work  expanded,  and  in  spite  of  the 
closest  application  it  was  seven  years  before  it  was 
finished.  His  reading  during  that  period  had  a  special 
bearing  on  his  work,  and  was  chiefly  French— current 
magazines  and  newspapers,  besides  more  solid  literature, 
so  that  he  caught  idioms  and  expressions,  as  it  were,  "  on 
the  wing."  He  began  the  work  with  a  meagre  knowledge 
of  the  language,  but  long  before  the  seven  years  had 
expired  he  had  become  a  thoroughly  good  French  scholar. 
He  was  never  satisfied  with  anything  short  of  the  very 
best  renderings  for  his  Dictionary,  and  took  infinite  pains 
to  obtain  them,  waiting  in  some  cases  for  months  before 
he  found  the  exact  word  or  phrase  that  satisfied  him. 

He  was  assisted  in  the  work  by  M.  Auguste  Beljame, 
and  after  his  death  by  his  brother.  Professor  Alexandre 
Beljame,  whose  remarkable  knowledge  of  English  litera- 
ture specially  qualified  him  for  the  task.  Two  other 
speciahsts  also  gave  John  Bellows  the  benefit  of  their 
advice  and  experience:  Mr.  John  Sibree,  M.A.,  London, 
and  M.  Auguste  Marrot,  B.A. 

Professor  and  Madame  Beljame  were  visiting  John 
Bellows  and  his  wife  at  their  home  at  Churcham  at  the 
moment  when  the  news  arrived  of  the  fall  of  Sedan.  They 
immediately  left  to  reach  Paris  before  it  was  invested 
by  the  Germans,  M.  Beljame  taking  with  him  part  of  the 
dictionary  MS.  The  work  of  years  was,  in  consequence, 
in  great  danger  of  being  destroyed,  for  a  shell  burst, 
during  the  siege,  in  the  very  next  house  to  their  own. 


24  DISCOURAGEMENTS 

M.  Beljame  said  later  in  a  letter  to  John  Bellows :  "  My 
first  thought  was  for  the  safety  of  my  wife  ;  but  my  next 
was  for  the  dictionary,  and  I  immediately  moved  both 
to  more  secure  quarters." 

The  difficulties  of  the  work  were  enormously  increased 
by  the  novelty  of  its  design ;  by  the  minuteness  of  the 
type ;  and  the  necessity  for  using  a  paper  thin  enough  to 
produce  a  really  light  volume,  and  yet  not  so  thin  as 
to  sacrifice  clearness.  So  disheartening  were  the  various 
obstacles,  that  John  Bellows  at  one  time  thought  of 
abandoning  the  work  in  toto.  Writing  of  his  many  dis- 
couragements, he  said  later  :  — 

*'  Of  the  weary  months  of  correcting  I  took  no  note  ; 
but  at  last  I  concluded  I  must  make  the  best  of  it,  and  I 
must  go  on  to  the  end,  fighting  my  way  through  all 
disappointments  till  I  compelled  success,  even  if  it  half 
ruined  me.  I  had  fully  steeled  myself  for  the  disappoint- 
ment of  seeing  it  left  on  my  hands  unappreciated  ;  for  with 
all  due  respect  to  the  '  enlightened  public,'  it  is  such  a 
fickle  body  that  absolute  merit,  even  supposing  my  work 
to  possess  merit  in  proportion  to  the  labour  bestowed  on 
it,  is  not  always  a  guarantee  of  success.  '  Your  book 
will  never  sell,'  remarked  the  most  far-seeing  of  my 
friends,— 'I  have  always  said  so;  for  the  print  is  so 
small  that  no  one  can  read  it.'  Another  would  ask  me 
some  question,  and  answer  my  reply  by  silence,  with 
a  look  such  as  Job's  friends  probably  gave  him  when  they 
comforted  him  with  the  observation  that  he  had  no  one 
but  himself  to  thank  for  his  trials— birthday  and  all.  In 
short,  if  Jacob  served  as  hard  a  seven  years  to  win 
Rachel  as  I  did  to  win  my  dictionary,  he  must  have 
had  pleasant  times  with  his  father-in-law  when  he  found 
himself  associated  with  the  latter  for  a  second  term. 

"Professor  Blackie,  of  Edinburgh,  however,  cheered 
me  with  a  different  forecast.  '  I  see  by  the  way  you  set 
about  it,'  said  he,  '  that  you  have  a  dash  of  enthusiasm 


/^17 


,/,i/         ^    .-.^ 


^.AyiC./-' 


TEN 


FRAN  CAIS— ANGLAIS 


TEN 


TENEUR  DE  LIVRES"  book-keeper  :  i.c- 
TfeNIA  tenia  :  tape-worm  Lcouutaut 

Toniv  •'■*''o6(e   15)  to  hold  (k,  par,  by, 

(bj,  to]  to  get  hold  of  :  to  keep  :  to  cling 
(&,  to]   to  'stand  up'  (pour,  for] 
[garder,  maintenir,   etc.)    to  keep   (house, 
•hop,  an  hotel,  books,  ...  at  a  distance, 

[prendre)  to  take  (the  helm,  a  »ager,  etc.] 
^  trop  de  place.   To  take  up  too  much 

room    I    un  lion  rang.  To  be  in  a  good 

position    I   corapte  de.  To  take  ...  into 

account  [com)  to  credit  (with]  _  la  tite 
To  head  (the  poll,  etc.] 

[aroir)  to  have  |  Je  le  tiens  de  6o»»e  source, 
I  have  it  on  good  authority 

[estimer)  to  take  (pour,  to  be]  to  take  it 
(that  ...    is...,  etc.]  fto 


aind  that  !  Don't  let  that  be  any  objec- 
ion  !  I  II  n'y  a  pas  de  raiton  qui  tienne, 
t's  no  use  giving  any  reason  {  11  n'a  tenu 
rieu  que  je  ne  ...,  1  was  as  nearly  as 
ould  be  (...ing  ...] 


Cappartenir)  to  belong  (a,  to]  to  partake  (of] 
Tout  ce  qui  tient  k  cela,  Evervlhing  con- 
nected with  it  (ou  belonging  to  it] 


[r^sulter)  to  lie  owing  to  !  k  quoi  cela  tient- 
il  ?  What's  that  owing  to  >  |  Cela  tient  it 
ce  que  c'est  un  parvenu.  That  comes  of 
his  being  an  upstart 

Cd<pendre)  II  ne  tient  qu'i  lul  df.  It  resU 
entirely  with  him  [on  himself]  (o  ... 

[r^sister)  to  stand  [^rMiMH)  to  hold  out  | 
—  TtTE  k.  To  stand  out  against :  to  resist: 
to  oppose  ;  to  cope  with 

[subsister)  to  hold  good  ;  to  stand 

[suivre)  to  pursue  :  to  hold  on  |  _  loie 
maUMit  CONUVITE.  To  be  going  on 
badly  |  —  wise  conduiu  diffirtnU,  To  act 
in  a  different  manner  |  II  a  tenu  uns 
froHMe  C,  His  conduct  [ou  behaviour] 
has  lieen  good  ]  .^  la  «er.  To  keep  to  sea  | 

le  large,  To  keep  well   in  the  offing  \ 

la  C6TS,  To  hug  the  shore 

[employer)  _  uu  pareil  LANQAQE,  To 
luake  use  of  such  language  \a,  to 

[disirer)  to  wish  [T.  Y  _]  to  be  anxious 


A   PORTION 

OF    THE 

MANUSCRIPT 

OK    THE 

FRENCH  DICTIONARY 

FIRST   EDITION 
(FIVE-EIGHTHS  SCALE) 

Showing  corrections  and  ad- 
ditions :  and  also  the  corre- 
sponding type  matter  of  the 
completed  work. 


DICTIONARY  COMPLETED  25 

about  you,  and  that  you  will  go  through  with  your  book 
for  the  love  of  it,  whether  it  ever  pays  you  or  not ;  but  I 
think  I  can  promise  you,  from  what  I  see  of  its  plan,  that 
in  twelve  months  from  the  time  it  is  pubHshed,  it  will  be 
all  over  the  world  as  the  best  French  dictionary  ever 
printed.' " 

John  Bellows'  publisher  recognized  the  unusual  ability 
shown  in  the  work,  and  recommended  him  to  print  twenty 
thousand  copies  to  begin  with ;  but  his  strained  means 
would  not  permit  this,  and  he  had  to  content  himself 
with  an  issue  of  six  thousand.  Within  twelve  months  the 
whole  of  these  were  exhausted,  however,  and  he  had  to 
prepare  as  quickly  as  might  be  for  another  edition.  The 
first  one  had  been  printed  entirely  by  hand — a  slow  and 
costly  process ;  but  now  that  it  became  a  question  of 
producing  much  larger  numbers,  special  machinery  was 
henceforth  required. 

Like  many  others,  John  Bellows  recognised  the  great 
value  of  the  philological  researches  of  Prince  Louis  Lucien 
Bonaparte  (a  nephew  of  Napoleon  I.,)  and  especially  with 
respect  to  English  dialects,  although  his  work  was  by  no 
means  confined  to  these.  For  some  years  they  corres- 
ponded, at  intervals,  on  this  subject ;  and  when  the 
French  dictionary  was  completed,  John  Bellows  marked 
his  own  appreciation  of  the  Prince's  work  by  dedicating 
his  little  book  to  him. 

The  excavations  for  the  building  of  his  new  Office  had 
revealed  to  him  a  piece  of  masonry  which  he  believed  to 
be  the  Roman  wall  of  the  City;  and  belief  was  made 
certainty  when,  as  the  digging  went  deeper,  he  came  upon 
a  heap  of  earth  containing  fragments  of  pottery  and  other 
articles— all  undeniably  Roman— in  such  quantities  that 
Professor  Rolleston,  of  Oxford,  declared  it  to  be  the 
largest  collection  ever  taken  in  Britain  from  one  spot. 
For  a  few  years  John  Bellows  was  not  able  to  make  much 
use  of  his  discovery,  owing  to  the  pressure  of  his  business 


26  ROMAN   WALL 

affairs ;  though  his  active  brain  was  no  doubt  evolving  the 
meaning  of  what  he  had  found.  When  his  anxieties  were 
a  little  lightened,  he  threw  himself,  with  his  usual  ardour, 
into  the  study  of  this  branch  of  archaeology,  and  he  con- 
tributed several  papers  *  on  the  subject  to  the  Cotteswold 
Naturalists'  Field  Club,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  and, 
later,  a  vice-president ;  and  delighted  his  fellow-members 
with  his  vivid  narrations. 

To  Professor  Max  Muller,  Oxford. 

Gloucester,  31-3-1873. 

"I  am  preparing  to  remove  my  business  to  new 
premises  which  I  am  building  on  the  site  formerly 
occupied  by  the  castle  of  the  East  Gate  of  the  city.  My 
premises  are  on  the  north  side  of  the  Gate ;  and  as  a 
portion  of  the  wall  of  Gloucester  is  traceable  on  the  south 
side,  I  thought  I  ought  to  find  it  in  the  garden  of  the  new 
house.  I  told  my  friend  WilHam  Lucy  I  thought  of  putting 
down  a  trial  shaft  or  two,  to  search  for  it,  before  covering 
it  with  the  floor  of  the  new  printing  office.  He  thought  it 
unlikely  that  I  should  meet  with  it,  as,  a  little  lower  down 
the  street  in  a  line  with  my  garden,  some  deep  founda- 
tions had  been  sunk  recently,  for  a  chapel,  without  finding 
any  trace  of  the  old  wall. 

"I  tried,  however,  and  my  guess  has  proved  correct. 
I  have  laid  bare  a  magnificent  mass  of  masonry  40  feet 
long,  10  feet  deep,  and  5  or  6  in  width.  The  foundation 
goes  far  below  this — probably  another  10  feet ;  but  I  am 
stopped  by  water  from  getting  down  to  it.  The  most 
curious  part  of  my  story  is  yet  to  be  told.  Everyone  here 
believes  Gloucester  walls  to  be  Norman  at  earliest;  but 
directly  I  got  down  to  the  level  of  the  masonry  I  began  to 
disinter  Roman  pottery.  At  first  I  thought  it  simply  an 
indication  that  a  rubbish  heap  from  some  older  part  of  the 
town  had  been  carted  here ;  but  I  have  gone  on  moving 

*  See  Appendix  for  list  of  these  and  other  writings. 


FURTHER  DISCOVERIES  27 

ton  after  ton  of  earth  and  found  a  continuous  store  of 
Samian  pottery,  black  (or  Upchurch)  ware,  Roman  tiles, 
bone  fibulae,  bone  needles,  a  Roman  coin  (I  can  only- 
decipher  the  AVG.  on  it,)  two  pieces  of  a  sword  blade,  a 
number  of  fragments  of  Roman  glass,  a  beautiful  hasp  of  a 
cabinet  lock  (bronze  inlaid  with  ivory  or  with  some  com- 
position) with  the  key  rusted  on  to  it,  a  mass  of  bones  of 
domestic  animals,  including  horns  of  bos  longifrons,  and 
the  antler  of  a  stag  of  some  species  not  wild  on  the 
Cotteswolds,  and  which  I  should  like  to  have  examined  by 
a  palaeontologist ;  as  well  as  shells  of  oysters,  mussels,  etc. 

**  The  most  curious  thing  perhaps,  of  all,  is  a  bit  of  the 
common  black  Roman  ware,  4  or  5  inches  in  length,  filled 
with  some  domestic  substance  which  I  take  to  be  soap,  or 
what  has  been  used  as  soap.  At  the  moment  of  finding  it, 
the  appearance  was  exactly  that  of  some  crystallized  soap 
now  made  in  France — so  nearly  resembling  brown  crys- 
tallized sugar,  that  the  labourer  who  handed  it  to  me 
declared  that  he  had  found  '  a  piece  of  one  of  their  pots 
with  the  sugar  in  it.'  (The  French  soap  I  speak  of  is  so 
much  like  this  that  when  I  took  some  home  two  months 
ago  for  my  wife  to  experiment  with,  I  put  the  bag  con- 
taining it  on  the  hall  table,  and  our  servant  took  it  from 
thence  and  shot  the  contents  into  the  store  jar  of  brown 
sugar!)  In  a  few  hours  after  exposure  to  the  air  the 
crystals  crumbled  to  whitish  powder.  If  thou  knowest  of 
any  chemist  who  is  interested  in  such  matters,  I  will 
send  him  a  little  of  the  powder  to  analyse.  I  believe  the 
result  of  all  my  digging  will  be  to  prove  the  wall — this 
portion  of  it  at  least— to  be  the  Roman  wall  of  Glevum 
Colonia.  Our  city  is  wonderfully  rich  in  Roman  remains, 
but  no  systematic  account  of  them  is  kept.  I  should  be 
delighted  if  thou  wouldst  make  another  trip  into  Glouces- 
tershire, and  come  and  see  these  old  remains. 

"  My  wife  and  two  little  ones  are  well.  Max  is  a 
delightful  little  boy— when  he  isn't  naughty." 


28  DOCTOR  HUBNER 

Through  his  friend  Max  Miiller,  John  Bellows'  discovery 
of  the  Roman  wall  was  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  Dr. 
Htibner,  a  distinguished  archaeologist  of  Berlin,  who  had 
specialized  on  the  Roman  occupation  of  Britain.  He  wrote 
an  article  in  a  German  magazine  on  this  important  '  find,' 
a  translation  of  which  was  made  for  the  Transactions  of 
the  Cotteswold  Club.  A  correspondence  was,  in  con- 
sequence, begun  between  Dr.  Hiibner  and  John  Bellows, 
to  their  mutual  pleasure,  and  to  the  profit  of  the  latter. 
As  these  letters  extended  over  a  long  period,  it  is  only- 
possible  to  give  a  small  selection  of  them  in  this  volume. 

To  Professor  Max  Miiller^  Oxford. 

Eastgate,  Gloucester,  2-2-1877. 

"  I  would  write  to  Dr  Htibner  and  tell  him  how  greatly 
I  have  been  interested  in  reading  his  paper  on  Glevum,  if 
I  knew  his  address. 

"He  is  '  down  upon  me,'  as  we  say,  and  of  course 
deservedly,  for  several  crudities  in  my  Cotteswold  Club 
paper  :  for  I  can  neither  forget  nor  make  up  for  my  lack 
of  a  classical  education  :  a  lack  which  really  ought  to  have 
deterred  me  from  ever  meddling  with  Roman  antiquities, 
had  not  my  discovery  on  my  own  premises  tempted  me 
to  '  rush  in  where  angels  fear  to  tread.'  -s^-  ^  *  *  And 
against  what  difficulties  such  an  amateur  as  I  am  has  to 
contend  in  a  town  like  Gloucester,  is  shown  by  my  slip  in 
the  statement  from  Suetonius.  I  not  only  have  no  copy 
of  his  works,  but  I  know  no  one  in  Gloucester  who  has  ! 
The  statement  that  '  a  Roman  general  never  marched 
without  the  materials  for  pavimenta  tessellata  in  his 
baggage,'  I  met  with  in  a  very  excellent  article  on  Roman 
pavements,  in  the  addenda  to  Leland's  Itinerary.  Know- 
ing how  risky  a  second-hand  quotation  is  liable  to  be,  I 
wrote  to  a  clergyman  who  had  access  to  the  work  to  look 
me  up  the  passage  in  the  life  of  Caesar,  and  let  me  know 
the  exact  words.     Unluckily  he  only  copied  the  last  part 


SAMIAN  WARE  29 

of  the  sentence  containing  what  seemed  to  be  the  point  at 
issue.  Into  this  trap  I  went  head  over  heels  !  It  is  not  a 
little  odd,  however,  that  my  theory,  built  upon  this  false 
foundation,  seemed  to  receive  support  from  my  finding, 
not  many  months  ago,  pieces  of  tesserce  on  the  extreme 
summit  of  Stinchcombe  Hill,  in  the  Roman  signal  station. 
'  Yes,'  some  antiquary  will  say,  '  but  the  soldiers  might 
easily  carry  a  few  pieceS*of  squared  stone  up  to  this  spot, 
to  play  some  sort  of  game  with.'  I  thought  of  this ;  but 
as  against  it,  the  Roman  lime-mortar  still  adhered  to  the 
bits,  with  fine  sharp  edges,  and  these  edges  would  have 
gone  instantly  in  pitching  the  bits  like  dice."     *    *    * 

To  Dr  Huhner^  Berlin. 

East  Gate,  Gloucester,  1-6- 1878. 
"  By  some  oversight  I  have  omitted  to  send  thee  the 
marks  on  the  Samian  ware  found  on  these  premises,  and 

which  are  as  follows  :  — 

CARVSSA-  IVLLINIM 

ANDEGENM  ...VNDINIM 

CEISIANIF  M. .  .RCVSSFM 

VICTORF 

"  During  the  past  week,  in  digging  the  foundations  for  a 
new  rectory  at  Matson,  about  two  miles  from  this  city, 
near  the  road  to  Pains  wick,  a  quantity  of  common  Roman 
ware  has  been  found,  including  fragments  of  an  Amphora 
of  the  large  size.  There  is  a  scratch  on  the  inside  of  one 
of  the  thin  pieces  of  common  red- ware,  made  while  the 
clay  was  soft  {i.e.^  before  burning,)  but  whether  intended 
for  a  letter  I  cannot  say. 

"  Matson  lies  on  the  north  side  of  a  beautiful  green  hill, 
an  outlier  of  the  Cotteswolds,  called  Robins'  Wood  Hill, 
from  a  family  of  Robins,  who  formerly  owned  the  estate. 
The  most  ancient  name  we  have  on  record  is  Mattisdon 
=  Mattesdun,  Saxon  for  Meadow-hill ;  for  it  is  covered  to 
the  very  summit  with  pasture.  It  is  about  700  feet  high  ; 
and  from  its  prominent  position  in  the  Vale  of  the  Severn, 
vis  d  vis  the  Cotteswold  range,  and  the  city  of  '  Glevum,' 


30  MATSON 

it  tnust  have  been  used  for  signalling  in  the  Roman  time. 
We  have  in  the  City  records  items  paid  at  the  time  of  the 
Spanish  Armada  by  the  Mayor  and  Corporation  for  the 
services  of  men  at  the  '  Beacon '  or  signal  fire,  on  the 
same  spot. 

"  I  have  only  last  evening  ascertained  from  a  man  living 
close  to  the  place,  that  the  roadway  running  towards  the 
hill  rests  on  enormous  blocks  %f  unhewn  stone  (oolite) 
which  must  have  been  brought  three  miles  or  so  to  place 
here.  Some  of  these  have  been  taken  up  and  broken,  to 
be  used  in  building  ;  but  a  number  are  still  left,  which 
I  have  a  promise  to  be  allowed  to  open  the  ground  to 
examine  ;  or  rather,  the  rector  of  the  parish  has  promised 
to  do  so. 

"Matson  House  is  a  fine  old  mansion,  which  was 
occupied  by  Charles  I.  in  the  siege  of  Gloucester  ;  and  his 
son  James  II.  many  years  afterwards  told  Selwyn  (the 
then  proprietor  of  the  place,  and  M.P.  for  Gloucester)  that 
while  they  were  staying  at  Matson,  his  brother  Charles 
(afterwards  Charles  II.)  and  himself  were  shut  up  in  one 
of  the  bedrooms  as  a  punishment,  when  they  cut  and 
hacked  the  window  sills  and  shutters  with  their  swords 
and  pocket  knives.  The  shutters  have  gone  ;  but  the 
notches  in  the  stone  sill  are  still  to  be  seen." 

To  the  same. 

Gloucester,  31-7-1878. 
*'  In  the  past  week  we  have  come  upon  three  sets  of 
Roman  remains  in  this  city :  a  large  piece  of  the  wall  of 
the  castle  at  the  South  gate :  the  base  of  a  pillar  in  the 
Southgate  Street,  perhaps  1 50  yards  from  the  spot  just 
mentioned.  This  pillar  base  is  a  very  large  one,  thirty- 
nine  inches  across        ^_      ^f^'     ^     the    shafts     and 

between  four  and      '^^^     ^    five  feet  diameter 

at  the  torus.    The  ^^^^^^---^  single      block 

weighs  a  ton.     It  ^^^^  rested  at  a  depth 

of  9  feet  3  inches  ^^===g-     „    ^^^   from  the  existing 


GRAVES  AT  CRICKLEY  31 

street,  on  what  seemed  to  be  an  enormous  square  block 
of  similar  oolite  stone ;  but  it  proved  to  be  two  blocks 
cramped  together  with  iron.  All  the  set  of  stones  are 
secured  for  our  Museum,  and  removed  thither. 

"  Lastly  we  have  opened  a  drain  through  the  sandy  soil 
at  Kingsholm  (the  suburb  so  often  mentioned  by  Lysons 
as  yielding  all  sorts  of  Roman  remains.)  Parts  of  six 
skeletons  were  turned  up ;  and  one,  perfect,  in  a  leaden 
coffin,  but  without  any  mark  or  inscription  of  any  kind. 
It  is  shaped  thus :  y;^^;=^:::==-^^^^_____  ^he  lid  not  soldered 
but  simply   bent  ^^^^^^^§~^   down  over  the  sides 

and    crushed    m  ^^^ -*^     somewhat    by    the 

weight  of  soil  above.  This  coffin  we  could  not  get  leave 
to  move.     It  is  buried  where  it  was  found  ! !  " 

To  the  same. 

Gloucester,  17-5-1880. 

"  Two  days  ago  I  purchased  for  our  city  museum  some 
interesting  articles  found  near  Birdlip,  with  three  skeletons. 

''  Birdlip  is  the  pass  by  which  the  Ermin  Street  descends 
from  the  Cotteswold  Hills  into  the  Vale  of  Gloucester.  It 
is  seven  miles  from  here,  and  ten  from  Cirencester.  Two 
miles  north  of  it,  or  rather  less,  is  a  headland  of  the 
Cotteswold  range,  called  Crickley.  (Crug,  pronounced 
creek  or  krik,  is  Celtic  for  barrow ;  and  there  is  a  pro- 
jection exactly  like  a  barrow,  which  forms  a  prominent 
feature  in  the  hill.) 

"  About  half-way  between  Crickley  and  Birdlip,  by  the 
side  of  the  road,  the  men  working  at  a  quarry  came  down 
upon  three  skeletons.  The  middle  one  had  a  bronze  bowl, 
very  thin,  and  of  most  beautiful  workmanship,  placed 
inverted  on  the  face — about  eight-and-a-half  inches  in 
diameter,  swelling  to  ten  inches  below,  and  perhaps  three 
inches  deep.  A  similar  bowl,  about  three-and-a-half 
inches  diameter,  lay  beside  it ;  a  beautiful  oval  bronze 
mirror,  with  the  back  enchased ;   a  heavy  silver  fibula, 


32  ROMAN  ROADS 

plated  with  gold  on  two  places ;  part  of  a  pair  of  tweezers ; 
a  bronze  handle  of  a  knife,  with  a  fawn's  head  ;  and  a 
necklace  or  rosary  (?)  of  large  amber  and  other  beads. 

*'I  shall  shortly  put  these  things  in  proper  order,  and 
put  them  into  the  museum.  Meantime  canst  thou  give  me 
any  light  on  the  use  of  the  bronze  bowls  ?  and  as  to 
whether  the  Romans,  before  the  Christian  epoch,  used 
rosaries  to  pray  with  ?  The  beads  are  too  heavy,  it 
seems  to  me,  for  wearing  on  the  neck.  There  are  also 
three  or  four  heavy  rings  of  base  metal — possibly  used  for 
fastenings  of  part  of  the  dress." 

To  the  same. 

Gloucester,  14-2-1882. 

"  The  subject  of  Roman  Roads  in  Britain  is  sadly 
neglected.  After  getting  the  hint  from  the  map  in  thy 
C.  I.  L.*  that  roads  must  have  existed  between  Glevum  and 
the  Templum  Nodentis  and  Isca  Silurum,  etc.,  I  got  the 
Ordnance  Surveyors  to  keep  a  sharp  look-out  for  pave- 
ment of  Roman  origin  in  the  Forest  of  Dean.  They  were 
just  then  entering  on  a  large-scale  survey  (25-344  inches 
to  the  mile.)  I  went  down  and  showed  one  of  the  men 
what  to  look  for,  and  how  to  distinguish  the  Roman 
margin  stones  from  modern  paving.  The  final  result  is 
that  every  carriage  road  but  two  in  the  Forest  of  Dean  is 
certainly  seen  to  be  Roman. 

*  *  The  Ordnance  Surveyors  are  at  this  moment  engaged 
in  the  city  of  Gloucester  on  a  scale  over  ten  feet  to  the 
mile  (s-Jo)  ^^^  ^1*^  doing  good  service  to  the  future 
archaeologist  by  recording  all  the  objects  of  antiquity 
found  in  the  city,  so  far  as  they  can  authenticate  them. 

'*  But  I  hope  thou  wilt  come  and  see  the  neighbourhood 
for  thyself.  With  a  little  notice  I  should  be  almost  certain 
to  be  at  home,  except  for  a  few  weeks  in  summer  at  the 
seaside." 

*  Corpus  Inscriptionum  Latinarum. 


CHAPTER   III. 

CORNISH  FRIENDS  —  DEATH  OF  HIS  PARENTS  —  RELIGIOUS 
CORRESPONDENCE— VALS  AND  THE  AUVERGNE-LOSS  OF 
A  CHILD— 'UPTON  KNOLL'  BUILT. 

LIKE  all  Cornishmen,  John  Bellows  always  thought  of 
^  his  native  county  as  'home,'  and  the  memories 
of  his  early  years  in  the  West  were  treasured  by  him  all 
through  his  busy  life.  Among  the  Cornishmen  with 
whom  he  kept  up  a  lasting  friendship  were  the  brothers 
Tangye,  of  Illogan,  who  removed  to  Birmingham  about 
the  time  that  he  came  to  Gloucester.  The  eldest  of  the 
five  brothers,  James,  retired  in  later  years  with  his  wife 
to  his  native  village ;  and  in  the  home  of  these  two  dear 
friends  John  Bellows  often  found  a  peaceful  haven  when 
wearied  out  by  his  busy  labours. 

He  was  always  a  quick  writer,  and  had  acquired,  to  a 
very  remarkable  degree,  the  power  of  concentration.  A 
great  deal  of  the  correspondence  given  in  this  volume  was 
written  in  the  intervals  of  business  or  amid  constant 
interruptions  ;  and  it  was  indeed  a  frequent  matter  for 
surprise  how  much  he  could  accomplish  in  this  way. 

The  following  letter  is  to  his  lifelong  friend  Francis 
Michell,  of  Redruth. 

To  Francis  Michell,  Redruth. 

Gloucester,  6-6-1872. 
''I  am  exceedingly  glad  to  hear  of  thy  small  boy's  safe 
arrival,  and  that  his  mother  is  going  on  well.     My  wife 
will  be  especially  pleased  at  the  news. 

"No  one  can  tell,  until  he  has  had  the  experience  of 
it,  what  a  comfort  children  are— for  comfort  is  just  the 
C 


34  PARENTAL   RESPONSIBILITY 

word  that  best  describes  the  feeling  that  rests  with  parents 
in  thinking  of  them.  Of  course  there  is  a  good  deal  of 
care  and  responsibility,  but  these  are  both  very  good 
things  for  us.  I  don't  believe  a  man  who  had  no  cares  (if 
such  a  rara  avis  is  in  existence)  would  be  a  happy  man. 
And  as  to  responsibility,  he  would  be  a  coward  who 
blinked  at  it,  especially  with  regard  to  endeavours  that 
his  children  should  grow  up  thoughtful  and  religious,  with 
a  view  to  their  lasting  happiness.  It  is  a  thought  that  I 
frequently  find  spurring  me  to  arise  from  the  lethargy  that 
besets  my  own  steps  in  this  direction ;  for  time  slips  by 
very  fast,  and  almost  before  I  am  aware  of  it  I  shall  have 
my  little  son  waiting  to  take  his  first  lessons  in  what,  alas, 
I  am  so  far  behind  knowing  myself!  If  I  let  his  earlier 
years  pass  away  without  any  earnest  effort  to  bend  his 
steps  in  the  right  path,  I  fear  my  after  efforts  will  be 
of  little  avail ;  and  to  give  lessons  to  children,  the  one 
powerful  agency  is  example.     ■5<-    *    ■»«• 

"The  more  we  can  encourage  the  feeling  of  our  own 
deficiency  and  helplessness  in  the  matter  of  the  religious 
training  of  our  children,  the  more  likely  we  are  to  be 
aided  by  the  great  Father  to  be  of  help  to  them.  I  conceive 
few  things  do  more  practical  mischief  than  the  notion  that 
because  we  are  not  what  we  ought  to  be,  it  is  no  use 
trying  to  do  anything  until  we  are.  The  early  Friends 
frequently  used  a  word  which  expresses  a  great  truth,  in 
saying  that  we  should  endeavour  to  walk  according  to 
our  fneastire  of  light,  and  the  state  in  which  we  are.    The 

,  on  the  other  hand,  talk  of  all  men  being  divided 

simply  into  two  lots — the  converted  and  the  unconverted. 
They  make  out,  resting  upon  a  half  truth  (which  is  often 
a  whole  lie^  that  anything  and  everything  the  latter  do 
is  wholly  displeasing  to  God.  But  they  entirely  ignore 
what  F^nelon  bore  witness  to — that  God  speaks  in  the 
hearts  of  the  unconverted  in  a  variety  of  ways,  to  draw 
them  to  Himself.     If  there  is  any  measure  of  yielding  to 


CONFIDENCE  IN   GOD  35 

this  drawing,  does  it  need  argument  to  prove  that,  in  so 
far,  the  person  who  endeavours  so  to  yield  is  acceptable 
to  God?  And  among  the  ways  in  which  we  are  thus 
drawn,  by  no  means  the  least  is  that  desire  that  is  im- 
planted in  our  hearts  for  the  true  well-being  of  our 
children — those  whom  we  have  been  the  means  of  bringing 
into  existence  to  be  happy  or  to  be  miserable  for  ever.* 
I  am  certain  that  the  secret  looking  of  the  heart  towards 
the  Father  of  Lights  for  wisdom  to  guide  our  little  ones 
aright,  is  not  lost,  whether  from  one  class  of  men  or  from 
another. 

To  George  Tangye,  Birmingham, 

Churcham,  22-12-1872. 

*'  As  I  have  said,  thou  hast  again  and  again  been  in  my 
thoughts,  though  very  often  I  have  been  so  overwhelmed 
with  cares  and  anxieties  that  it  has  appeared  as  if  it  would 
be  unsuitable  to  write  with  one's  mind  in  such  a  state, 
especially  to  an  invalid  friend  whose  greatest  need  was 
rest. 

"There  are  moments,  however,  that  come  to  us  unex- 
pectedly, in  the  midst  of  storms  and  trials,  in  which  a 
quieter  influence  is  felt  underneath,  as  a  stay — an  anchor 
which  limits  the  range  of  our  tossings.  Thou  hast  known 
many  such  seasons,  and  I  trust  wilt  know  them  again,  if 
further  trials  are  permitted  thee  by  the  same  unerring  and 
loving  Power  that  has  safely  led  thee  thus  far.  '  In  quiet- 
ness and  in  confidence  shall  be  your  strength,'  remains  a 
golden  watchword — a  quietness  which  lies  in  inward 
silent  waiting  on  God,  and  in  which  the  true  living 
confidence  in  His  mercy  springs  fresh  after  every  dis- 
couragement. 

"  To  sink  into  this  inward  waiting  is  not  an  easy 
attainment;  but  it  is  worth  striving  after,  earnestly  and 

*  It  will  be  seen  later  how  much  his  views  became  modified  as  to 
our  condition  after  death. 

C2 


36  DEATH   OF  HIS  MOTHER 

repeatedly,  for  it  is  nothing  less  than  bringing  the  soul 
into  immediate  communion  with  Christ,  and  taking  hold 
of  a  measure  of  His  power— in  other  words,  it  is  the  very 
essence  of  prayer,  which  is  the  vital  point  in  religion." 

To  Professor  Max  Miiller,  Oxford. 

Gloucester,  12-11-1873. 
"  My  dear  mother,  now  in  her  8oth  year,  is  very  ill, 
and  I  fear  we  may  not  keep  her  much  longer.  She  has 
not  been  able  to  lie  down  for  three  years,  from  acute 
rheumatism  in  right  knee,  so  that  she  sleeps  in  an  easy 
chair.  She  is  deaf,  to  a  great  extent,  and  suffers  in  her 
breathing.  Yet  she  is  calm  in  her  sorest  moments,  and 
bright  and  cheerful  whenever  physical  pain  permits  it. 
Last  night  my  wife  and  I  were  sitting  by  her  side  ;  [she 
was]  almost  too  weak  to  speak.  After  a  violent  fit  of 
coughing,  she  said,  '  I  am  not  afraid  to  die,  for  I  have 
long  been  accustomed  to  look  death  in  the  face ' ;  adding 
afterwards,  '  there  is  no  cloud  in  the  way.'  Life  is  full  of 
sorrows  and  troubles,  and  I  have  had  some  heavy  ones  ; 
but  I  don't  know  how  to  steel  myself  against  the  blow  that 
I  dread  may  soon  fall  on  us  in  parting  with  my  mother. 
The  cares  of  business  and  of  little  children  ought  to 
harden  one  into  manhood  at  two  and  forty ;  but  when  I 
think  of  my  mother  I  come  back  to  be  a  little  child  again 
myself.  I  think  thou  wilt  feel  what  I  mean,  but  I  can't 
write  more." 

His  mother's  illness  did  not  at  this  time  prove  fatal. 
She  died,  greatly  mourned,  in  the  following  July. 

To  his  Wife,  after  the  death  of  a  friend. 

London,  22-5-75. 

"We  sat  together  (—  and  I)  till  after  midnight;  and 

long  after  I  lay  down  I  felt  unable  to  sleep,  from  the  sense 

that  rested  on  my  heart  of  the  shortness  of  time  for  us  all, 

and  the  nearness  of  that  great  and  vast  eternity  in  which. 


^         DEATH  OF  HIS  FATHER  37 

through  the  love  of  God,  it  will  be  our  portion  to  be  happy- 
together,  thou  and  I,  my  darling  Lizzie,  when  the  trials  of 
this  life  are  past.  Heaven  would  be  happy  beyond  all 
comprehension  even  were  it  for  any  of  us  to  be  in  the 
presence  of  Him  who  is  the  fountain  of  light  and  love 
and  bliss ;  but  His  ways  are  past  finding  out ;  and  on 
to  the  very  infinitude  of  blessedness  He  adds  infinite 
seas  of  further  bliss  in  the  companionships  that  have 
bound  us  together  in  time.  On  to  the  mercy  no  thought 
can  fathom,  of  saving  our  souls  from  the  misery  of  separa- 
tion from  His  presence.  He  adds  the  joy  of  meeting  in  the 
same  endless  existence  those  we  loved,  and  who  have 
helped  us,  and  whom  we  have  helped,  here  on  earth. 

"  I  cannot  say  one  tithe  of  what  I  feel  on  this  matter  ;  I 
can  only  fall  back  into  silent  contemplation  of  it,  just  as 
I  should  silently  stand  on  the  shore  of  an  ocean  of  splendour 
and  brightness  that  stretched  away  into  eternal  distance. 
O  how  small  at  such  a  moment  seem  the  sacrifices  we  are 
called  on  to  make  as  the  simplest  preparation  for  entering 
such  a  world!  O  how  earnest  we  should  be  with  our 
darling  children,  to  train  them  as  instruments  for  the 
glory  of  such  a  God  ! 

* '  I  feel  it  is  a  blessed  thing  for  me  to  have  been  at  this 
Yearly  Meeting"^;  and  I  do  hope  to  come  home  with 
some  enlargement  of  heart  from  it,  and  some  increase 
of  readiness  to  run  in  the  way  of  our  Heavenly  Father's 
commandments. " 

To  Bruce  Home^  Edinburgh. 

Gloucester,  6-12-77. 
"  I  buried  my  father  yesterday.  He  was  ready  to  die, 
and  met  Death  as  patiently  and  cheerfully  as  he  would 
have  prepared  for  a  change  of  abode  in  this  world,  had  it 
been  his  lot.  One  thing  he  said  to  me  nearly  a  year  ago, 
will  rest  on  my  mind  as  a  lesson  to  be  kept  in  view, 
and  followed  after. 

*  Of  the  Society  of  Friends. 


38  RESIGNATION 

"  Something  had  occurred — I  forget  what — to  oblige  me 
to  ask  him  to  forego  a  plan  on  which  he  had  set  his  heart. 
If  any  man  had  good  reason  for  expecting  to  be  gratified, 
it  was  he :  in  lonely  old  age,  feeble  in  health,  and  able  to 
take  no  pleasure  in  the  multitude  of  things  that  come  in 
the  way  of  the  young  or  the  middle-aged. 

"  Without  hesitation  he  at  once  yielded,  quietly  saying, 
'For  some  time  past  I  have  made  it  a  rule  always  to 
prefer  the  will  of  another  to  my  own  will,  except  when  by 
so  doing  I  should  go  contrary  to  the  will  of  God.'  I 
cannot  describe  how  great  an  impression  these  simple 
words  made  on  me,  as  I  looked  on  his  silver  hairs,  and 
remembered  how  soon  he  would  lay  them  in  the  grave. 
It  was  the  living  reality  of  the  words  that  are  too  thought- 
lessly murmured  by  thousands :  '  Thy  will  be  done  in 
earth  as  it  is  in  Heaven ' ;  for  no  angel  there  or  spirit  of 
just  man  made  perfect  could  go  beyond  this  entire  re- 
signation of  self.'* 

To  the  same, 

Gloucester,  20-3-1878. 
"  If  I  have  delayed  writing  thee,  it  has  not  been  that 
my  friendship  flagged,  but  simply  because  I  felt  empty  of 
any  good ;  and  above  all  things  I  believe  it  is  needful  for 
us  to  know  when  to  speak  and  when  to  keep  silence. 
Yet  I  can  assure  thee  that  thy  letter  warmed  my  heart 
and  made  me  glad.  There  was  something  in  it  more  than 
words;  an  underlying  sense  was  present  with  me  as  I 
read  it,  of  thy  tenderness  of  spirit.  This  tenderness  is  of 
infinite  price,  for  it  is  the  gift  of  God,  the  forerunner  of  all 
His  best  gifts,  so  that  its  being  retained  is  a  very  important 
matter.  It  is  the  spirit  of  the  little  child,  to  which  the 
Heavenly  Father  reveals  the  mysteries  of  His  Kingdom 
that  are  hidden  from  the  wise  and  prudent,  from  the 
theologians  and  clever  searchers  who  think  that  the 
Kingdom  of  God  '  cometh  by  observation.^ 


WAITING  UPON   GOD  39 

"Satan  draws  us  aside  from  this  beautiful  childlike 
state  by  getting  us  to  attend  to  somewhat  else  than  the 
secret  drawings  of  the  Spirit  of  God ;  either  leading  us 
into  chains  of  reasoning,  or  into  an  endeavour  to  know 
more  at  any  given  time  than  it  is  the  Master's  will  at  that 
particular  time  to  show  us.  If  the  enemy  cannot  damp 
our  courage  so  far  as  to  frighten  us  back  from  the  narrow 
path  by  forestalling  its  difficulties,  he  turns  round  on  the 
other  tack  and  plausibly  leads  us  into  engaging  in  some 
'good  work'  to  which  we  are  not  called.  Here  is  his 
great  snare,  and  I  hope  thou  mayest  be  favoured  to  see  it ; 
for  vain  is  it  to  set  the  snare  in  the  sight  of  any  bird.  " 

To  a  Correspondent.  ^ 

Gloucester,  20-3-1878. 

"  I  can  fully  enter  into  thy  feeling  of  discouragement  at 
thy  want  of  more  earnestness  in  seeking  the  best  things. 
Even  here,  however,  we  do  well  to  remember  that  we 
cannot  will  of  ourselves  anything  that  is  truly  good.  We 
are  assured  by  a  man  of  experience  that  it  is  God  which 
worketh  in  us  both  to  will  and  to  do,  in  this  sense ;  and 
therefore  it  is  of  deep  moment  to  us  to  sink  into  that 
waiting  state  before  Him,  in  which  we  are  kept  from 
hindering  His  operations.  Multitudes  of  people  are  kept 
from  seeing  this  by  the  Enemy  of  souls ;  tossed  first  into 
an  eager  acting  or  praying  in  their  own  zeal,  and  then  into 
despondency  because  their  momentary  blaze  has  gone  out. 

"  No  :  it  is  a  more  blessed  thing  to  wait  upon  God,  and 
even  to  feel  one's  self  naked  and  miserable,  and  poor  and 
blind,  than  to  go  wandering  on  till  we  get  a  notion  that  we 
are  something,  when  in  reality  we  are  neither  cold  nor  hot. 
'  They  that  wait  upon  the  Lord  shall  renew  their  strength ; ' 
and  it  is  this  renewing  that  carries  us  forward  from 
strength  to  strength.  The  Great  and  Infinite  Creator 
regards  quality  in  our  work  more  than  quantity  ;  one  sigh 
from  a  sense  of  our  utter  fall  and  nothingness,  is  more 


40  JAMES  GREEN 

acceptable  to  Him  than  all  the  magnificent  services  in  the 
world,  with  which  men  dazzle  each  other.  He  teaches  us 
a  little  at  a  time ;  and  if  we  only  keep  to  that,  we  are  well- 
pleasing  to  Him. 

"  At  any  and  every  given  moment  of  our  life  our  safety 
consists  in  our  turning  submissively  to  the  measure  or 
degree  of  the  Spirit  of  God  which  at  the  particular  time  is 
manifested  to  us.  Note  well  that  this  manifestation  is  not 
always  made  to  the  understanding  or  reason  in  us  ;  often 
it  is  secretly  felt,  but  out  of  the  grasp  of  reason.  There 
is  a  passage  of  which  I  cannot  recall  the  exact  words, 
which  counsels  him  '  that  hath  no  light '  to  stay  upon  the 
Lord  and  trust  in  his  God;  so  that  even  here,  God  is 
secretly  present,  giving  power  to  lean  on  Himself,  even 
while  to  the  eye  of  the  natural  mind  all  is  darkness ;  for 
power  comes  from  Him." 

John  Bellows  very  greatly  prized  the  privilege  of 
numbering  many  cultured  Americans  among  his  friends. 
One  of  these,  to  whom  the  following  and  other  letters 
were  written,  was  a  beloved  correspondent  for  nearly 
twenty-five  years. 

To  James  Green,  Worcester,  Massachusetts. 

Gloucester  (Old  England,)  31-1-1879. 

*'Thy  most  acceptable  gift.  Holmes'  'Life  of  Motley,' 
reached  me  on  the  8th  inst.  The  Worcester  post-mark 
led  me  to  guess  thou  wert  the  sender ;  but  the  coincidence 
of  my  receiving  about  the  same  time  a  letter  from  O.  W. 
Holmes  himself  (it  reached  me  the  previous  afternoon,) 
left  me  in  just  enough  uncertainty  to  delay  my  acknow- 
ledgment of  it  until  I  got  a  line  from  thee.     *    *    * 

"My  wife  and  I  are  quietly  enjoying  Prescott's  works 
in  our  winter  evenings,  for  I  generally  read  aloud  to  her 
after  the  children  are  gone  to  bed ;  and  I  have  been  inter- 
ested, from  time  to  time,  while  engaged  in  his  narratives, 
in  a  comparison  of  his  style  with  that  of  Motley.    The 


CONTRASTS  IN  NATURE  41 

latter  still  appears  to  me  to  bear  the  palm  ;  for  while 
both  are,  as  a  rule,  clear  and  easy  in  their  manner,  and 
both  possess  great  power  of  putting  a  scene  vividly  before 
the  mind  of  the  reader,  Prescott  now  and  then  makes 
a  slip,  grammatically,  or  words  a  sentence  so  carelessly 
that  it  may  be  taken  to  mean  something  different  from 
that  which  he  intended  ;  while,  so  far  as  I  have  observed, 
Motley  never  does  so.     *    *    * 

"We  felt  disappointed  on  account  of  thy  Wye  tour, 
when  the  rain  set  in  so  heavily  as  to  leave  no  hope  of  its 
accomplishment.  Still,  if  thou  shouldst  again  visit  England, 
thou  wilt  perhaps  see  the  rest  of  the  valley  under  brighter 
aspects.  All  landscapes  depend  much  upon  atmospheric 
effects  for  their  beauty  ;  and  especially  those  made  up  of 
cliffs  and  mountains.  Even  the  blue  sky,  which  in  our 
beclouded  island  is  so  often  hidden  as  to  set  us  longing 
after  it  as  an  ideal  of  perfection,  becomes  wearisome 
when  it  ceases  to  change.  I  have  known  an  Italian  com- 
plain of  its  unvaried  monotony  as  the  worst  drawback  of 
the  southern  summer  !  His  ideal  was  a  moist  and  rainy 
land  like  England,  where  the  grass  was  green  in  hot 
weather,  and  not  brown  and  burnt  up.  Perhaps  the  secret 
after  all  is  in  the  contrasts  afforded  by  change ;  and  these 
are  necessarily  more  frequent  and  striking  in  a  rainy 
than  in  a  dry  climate.  Some  of  Wordsworth's  best  de- 
scriptions of  our  Lake  District  relate  to  cloud-changes.  *  * 

''It  would  give  my  wife  and  myself  great  pleasure  to 
see  thee  again— and  I  believe  Gloucestershire  will  not 
seem  altogether  a  strange  country  to  thee  on  thy  next 
visit,  now  that  the  ice  is  broken — while  we  shall  often 
recur  to  the  evening  thou  passed  here,  with  interest. 

"  Should  anything  lead  thee  to  visit  Gloucester,  Mass., 
do  not  fail  to  examine  the  histories  of  Old  Gloucester 
which  they  keep  with  their  town  archives.  These  include 
all  our  local  histories,  which  were  presented  to  them  by 
our  Mayor  and  Corporation  some  twenty  years  ago." 


42  HOLIDAY  IN  FRANCE 

In  the  spring  of  1879,  John  Bellows'  health,  never 
robust,  had  become  somewhat  impaired,  and  he  was  with 
difficulty  persuaded  to  leave  home  and  business  to  go  for 
a  short  trip  to  France,  with  his  friend  William  C.  Lucy — 
a  fellow-member  of  the  Cotteswold  Naturalists'  Field 
Club,  and,  in  later  years,  its  president.  They  went  first 
to  Vals,  where  the  beauty  of  the  scenery  filled  his  memory 
with  pictures  which  took  long  to  fade  ;  and  then  proceeded 
south  to  Nimes.  Here  the  examination  of  the  wonderful 
Roman  remains  was  of  special  interest  to  him,  as  he  had 
now  taken  up  archaeology,  not  as  a  mere  pastime,  but  as 
a  serious  study.  On  their  return  journey  the  two  com- 
panions stopped  at  Clermont-Ferrand  and  ascended  the 
Puy  de  DOme,  where  Roman  remains  again  attracted  his 
attention. 

To  his  Wife. 
Hotel  Durand,  Vals,  ARDficHE,  1 1-5-79. 

c<  -K-  -x-  ^  B^t  first  let  me  go  back  to  the  day  before 
yesterday,  i.e.^  to  our  arrival,  and  say  something  about 
Vals  itself.  It  is  a  large  village  situate  in  a  valley,  sur- 
rounded on  all  sides  by  hills  as  high  as,  and  shaped  very 
much  like,  those  at  Llandogo  above  Tintern.  There 
is  but  one  principal  street,  though  there  are  very  pretty 
walks  and  drives  for  visitors  besides  this. 

"The  river  Volane,  which  runs  into  the  Ardeche  just 
below  here,  is  the  great  feature  ;  and,  as  it  is  a  type 
of  the  many  streams  we  see  in  the  district,  I  will  try 
to  describe  it.  The  bed,  which  is  for  a  very  large  part  of 
its  width  dry  at  this  time  of  the  year,  is  made  up  of  boul- 
ders of  granite  and  lava  of  all  sizes  up  to  that  of  our  hall 
stove,  dazzling  white  and  jet  black  ;  with  here  and  there 
broad  flats  of  shining  sand,  the  same  as  that  at  Mount's 
Bay.  Winding  through  this  runs  the  stream,  now  about 
as  wide  as  Eastgate  street,  clear  as  crystal — a  loud,  noisy 
river.  In  some  parts  it  forms  pools,  many  feet  deep,  of 
lovely  sea-green  ;  in  others  it  is  all  lost  in  white  foam  in 
its  passage  through  the  pebbles. 


VISIT   TO   VALS  43 

"Two  bridges  cross  it  at  the  two  ends  of  the  village,  near 
each  of  which  it  forms  a  splendid  and  most  musical  water- 
fall. The  lower  of  these  bridges  is  a  recent  one,  built  ten 
years  ago  by  the  government,  as  an  experiment  Every  few 
years  the  torrent  sweeps  away  trees  and  rocks,  and  some 
of  the  bridges  ;  and  this  one  is  made  low  to  allow  the  main 
body  of  the  water  to  pass  over  it.  There  is  no  parapet : 
so  that  it  would  not  be  a  safe  place  for  [a  child]  to  play 
upon.  The  floor  of  the  bridge  is  about  eight  or  nine  feet 
above  the  present  surface  of  the  stream,  which  in  an 
ordinary  winter  rises  more  than  a  yard  over  the  top  ;  and 
in  the  great  flood  time  the  engineer  hopes  the  rocks  will 
roll  through  the  arches  below,  while  the  trees  are  swept 
across  the  top.  The  Vals  people  say  the  whole  bridge, 
solid  and  broad  as  it  is,  of  chiselled  granite,  will  be 
carried  clean  away. 

"  Many  of  the  bridges  are  suspension  ones,  high  above 
the  river.  There  is  one  a  little  beyond  here,  which  we 
passed  over  from  Aubenas,  and  to  go  to  Jaujac  also, 
as  long  as  Clarence  Street  and  as  high  as  our  house  over 
the  water.  Below,  there  is  a  beach  of  hundreds  of  feet 
wide.    This  is  on  the  Ardeche. 

"  The  hills  are  all  cultivated,  where  the  rock  admits  of 
it,  in  steps  and  terraces  about  two  or  three  feet  high  each. 
In  one  place,  just  behind  the  hotel,  there  are  a  hundred 
of  these  steps  right  away. 

"  I  was  so  delighted  with  the  walk  we  had  after  tea, 
on  the  way  towards  Antraigues,  that  I  could  not  help 
scheming  all  sorts  of  things  to  get  thee  over  here  with 
some  of  the  children.  I  told  William  Lucy  that  I  should 
not  wish  to  see  anything  else  but  these  valleys  at  Vals. 
Cliffs  and  hills,  woodland  and  cascade  succeeded  each 
other  at  every  bend  of  the  road ;  whfle  every  now  and 
then  we  came  in  view  of  the  far  shining  snow-clad 
mountains  high  against  the  blue  sky.  They  are  intoler- 
ably beautiful. 


44  ARDECHE  SCENERY 

"  I  gathered  bits  of  wild  box  to  put  in  my  letter  home  v 
bits  of  genista,  violets,  and  I  don't  know  what  besides.  I 
resolved  to  telegraph  home  to  thee  to  make  some  arrange- 
ments for  leaving  at  once,  and  to  go  and  fetch  thee — and 
then,  as  I  saw  in  examining  the  details  that  this  would  be 
impossible,  I  had  half  a  mind  to  beg  William  Lucy  to 
forgive  my  going  home  at  once,  as  it  would  make  me  un- 
happy to  stay  in  such  a  place  unless  I  could  share  it 
at  least  with  my  wife !  Only  the  conviction  that  this 
would  be  very  unfair  to  him  prevented  my  doing  so.  Had 
I  been  alone,  I  should  at  this  moment  have  been  a  good 
part  of  the  way  back  I 

"If  the  Antraigues  road  delighted,  the  one  to  Jaujac 
was  in  some  parts  even  grander.  I  made  the  trap  stop  a 
couple  of  miles  out,  at  a  large  paper  mill,  to  try  and  sketch 
the  outline  of  snowy  mountains,  with  the  magnificent  river 
before  us ;  but  I  gave  it  up.  What  is  the  outline  of  a 
scene  in  which  all  beautiful  colours  tell  with  all  their 
force  ;  or  how  can  a  blacklead  pencil  give  any  idea  of  the 
air  that  blows  uncontaminated  from  the  broad  moorlands 
above— or  of  the  sounding  music  of  many  waterfalls— or 
of  the  trees  and  flowers  that  go  to  complete  the  fore- 
ground ! " 

To  his   Wife. 

Vals,  France,  12-5-79. 

"We  have  just  returned  from  a  long  drive  to  Montpesat, 
a  large  village  some  thirteen  miles  from  Vals.  Every 
part  of  the  road  is  beautiful :  all  of  it  along  valleys  by  the 
side  of  rivers,  and  all  hemmed  in  by  high  granite  hills 
whose  lower  slopes  are  cultivated  in  terraces,  while  the 
heights  are  clothed  with  chestnut  trees. 

"  The  approach  to  Montpesat  itself  is  grand.  In  front 
of  us  is  a  line  of  snowy  mountains  ;  at  the  left  a  mighty 
volcano,  the  cone  of  which  is  itself  a  mountain  of  red  ash 
and  cinder  as  high  as  Haresfield  Hill  above  the  railway, 
with  trees  on  its  lower  part,  and  a  few  streaks  of  snow 


PUY  DE  DOME 


45 


just  at  its  summit ;  on  our  right,  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  valley,  a  mighty  hill  forming  a  vast  combe,  in  whose 
lower  hollow  nestled  the  town.  To  get  to  this  we  have  to 
cross  a  suspension  bridge  over  a  chasm  nearly  as  deep  as 
Symond's  Yat  cliff.  On  the  off-bank  is  a  castle  ruin, 
standing  on  one  edge  of  this  cliff  of  basalt. 


It  is  now  that  I  regret  never  having  learned  a  little  draw- 
ing: at  any  rate  enough  to  make  a  difference  between 
a  forest  tree  and  a  besom !  But  a  rough  idea  is  better 
than  an  absolute  blank." 

To  his   Wife. 

Clermont-Ferrand,  18-5-79. 

"I  am  like  a  boy  going  home  from  school:  ready  to 
count  the  hours  for  my  return. 

"We  have  been  up  the  Puy  de  DCme,  on  the  lower 
slopes  of  which  grow  pansies  in  abundance. 

"  The  drive  towards  the  Puy  de  D6me  rises  for  several 
miles  along  a  road  of  forty  feet  in  width,  that  is  carried  in 
zig-zags  of  easy  gradient  to  a  plateau  far  higher  than 
Birdlip.  On  this  we  drive,  again  rising  a  good  part  of 
the  way,  till  we  get  to  the  foot  of  the  Puy  itself,  where 
we  leave  the  horses  and  take  a  guide — an   intelligent 


46  DIRTY  INNS 

good-looking  Auvergnat.  The  summit  (on  which  stands  the 
Government  Observatory)  is  over  fourteen  hundred  feet 
above  the  guide's  house  :  half  as  high  again  as  the  hill  at 
Malvern  above  that  town.  Immediately  at  the  back  of  the 
house,  and  scattered  in  front  also,  are  heaps  of  Roman 
remains:  a  beautifully- carved  capital  of  a  pillar,  lying 
among  ashes  and  rubbish,  I  noticed  especially.  *  *  * 
**Very  near  the  top  we  came  upon  the  platform  of 
a  large  temple  erected  by  the  Romans  to  Mercury,  only 
lately  discovered  in  building  the  observatory.  It  is  all  of 
chiselled  lava— beautiful  blocks  of  stone,  many  of  which 
are  as  long  as  our  front  hall,  and  many  of  tlie  steps  cut 
two  deep  out  of  a  single  stone.  On  all  hands,  and  for 
hundreds  of  yards  round,  the  soil  is  full  of  Roman  pottery. 
I  could  have  quickly  filled  a  wheelbarrow  with  it.  Our 
guide  picked  up  a  bit  of  Samian  [ware]  and  handed  me  ; 
and  many  coins  are  found  there." 

To  his   Wife. 

Thueyts,  Ard^che,  19-5-1879. 
"  The  tea  comes  in  most  usefully.  In  some  of  the 
country  inns  they  have  no  such  thing  as  either  teapot 
or  kettle.  They  bring  in  a  shallow  saucepan  and  a  slop 
basin,  and  pour  a  splash  all  over  the  place,  and  then  put 
the  tea  in !  Omelettes  they  make  well  everywhere,  and 
the  bread  is  good,  so  that  one  is  sure  of  something  to  eat. 
But  they  are  dirty  places.  I  am  sitting  in  such  a  one  now, 
the  same  inn  at  Thueyts  where  William  Lucy  and  his 
friends  were  so  overcharged  when  he  was  last  here.  He 
did  resolve  never  to  come  here  again :  but  time  has 
healed  the  wound,  and  we  are  expecting  our  boiling  water 
in  a  few  minutes." 

To  James  Green,  Worcester,  Massachusetts. 

Gloucester,  England,  27-12-1879. 
"  Time  flies  fast,  and  I  can  hardly  realise  that  this  is 
the  second  winter  since  thou  wert  here ;  but  I  have  two 


THE  VALLEYS  OF  ARDECHE       47 

landmarks  that  compel  me  to  remember  it,  in  the  form  of 
a  long  attack,  last  year,  of  bronchitis  (for  the  first  time  in 
my  life,)  which  I  am  now  supplementing  by  another  that 
has  kept  me  indoors  somewhat  over  three  weeks. 

**In  the  spring  my  friend  William  Lucy,  whom  thou 
wilt  recollect,  pressed  me  to  try  and  mend  my  weakened 
health  by  a  short  trip  to  the  volcanic  district  of  Central 
France  ;  about  the  neighbourhood  of  Vals,  in  the  Ard^che, 
and  of  Clermont-Ferrand. 

"  It  certainly  is  a  marvellous  country.  There  are  ex- 
tinct volcanoes  in  whose  craters  grow  sweet  pasture  and 
flowers  of  many  varieties ;  down  some  of  whose  giant 
slopes  there  are  forests  of  chestnut  or  terraces  of  the 
vine ;  while  on  other  parts  of  the  same  mountains  lie 
the  cinders  and  ashes  as  they  lay  the  day  they  fell  from 
the  fiery  cloud  above,  intermingled  with  mighty  bombs 
of  lava  from  the  explosions  that  filled  miles  of  the 
valleys  below  with  their  columns  of  basalt.  If  '  distance 
lends  enchantment  to  the  view,'  distance  of  time  eliminates 
from  our  remembrance  of  a  foreign  land  the  minor  common- 
places incident  to  our  travel  in  it,  and  by  degrees  shapes 
out  for  us  an  ideal  picture,  or  a  poem  of  things — not  of 
words— in  which  is  enshrined  all  that  is  worth  keeping  of 
them.  It  is  thus  with  me  in  looking  back  upon  the  beautiful 
valleys  of  Ardeche  :  there  are  endless  lines  of  snow-clad 
mountains  standing  out  against  the  blue  sky ;  forests  and 
gardens  and  vineyards  on  their  lower  slants  ;  bounding 
rivers  and  musical  waterfalls,  such  as  I  have  never  seen 
or  heard  elsewhere  :  a  land  that  would  be  fairyland,  if  it 
were  not  for  the  vastness  of  its  proportions,  and  the 
balancing  of  its  sweetness  by  the  evidences  of  overwhelm- 
ing power.  But  I  forget  myself.  Words  that  might  pass 
with  a  meaning  to  one  who  had  seen  the  same  landscape, 
may  have  an  air  of  exaggeration  to  one  who  has  not ;  but 
if  ever  it  should  be  thy  lot  to  visit  this  part  of  France,  thou 
wilt  acquit  me  at  least  of  this." 


48  LOSS  OF  A   CHILD 

In  September,  1881,  John  Bellows  and  his  wife  had  the 
deep  sorrow  of  losing  a  little  girl,  Emily,  aged  five-and-a- 
half  years,  after  a  very  brief  illness.  The  two  letters 
which  follow  refer  to  this  loss. 

To  James  Green,  Worcester,  Massachusetts. 

Gloucester,  England,  27-9-1881. 

"  The  little  card  accompanying  this  will  show  what  our 
last  and  heaviest  trouble  has  been ;  for  one  of  the  bright 
and  happy  children  who  made  up  the  group  of  our  house- 
hold when  thou  passed  a  few  hours  under  our  roof,  has 
been  summoned  away  from  time ;  and  to-morrow  we  must 
stand  by  her  tiny  grave. 

"  It  seems  strange  thus  to  open  one's  heart  to  a  stranger 
in  a  distant  land,  and  make  him  the  sharer  in  our  sorrows  ; 
but  in  the  ordering  of  Heaven  it  was  meant  to  be  that  even 
our  seemingly  '  chance '  acquaintanceships  should  often 
bind  our  hearts  together  in  sympathy." 

From  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes. 

Beverly  Farms,  Mass.,  Oct.  iith,  1881. 

*'  My  dear  Mr  Bellows, 

"  My  sympathies  go  out  to  you  across  the  wide  distance 
that  separates  us.  Your  affliction  calls  back  to  me  my 
own  first  experience  of  death  and  affliction  in  the  loss  of  a 
little  sister  at  almost  exactly  the  same  age  with  the  child 
that  has  left  you.  I  myself  was  at  a  still  tenderer  age, 
and  yet  the  remembrance  has  always  been  with  me,  and 
when  some  years  ago  I  came  upon  her  dolls  which  had 
been  carefully  treasured  by  my  mother,  my  heart  melted 
at  the  sight  of  the  poor  little  playthings. 

"  I  wish  I  could  have  been  with  you  at  the  Friends' 
Burial-ground  when  the  funeral  took  place.  I  have  been 
in  so  many  processions  of  mourners  of  late  years,  that  it 
seems  as  if  the  world — my  world — was  leaving  me,  almost, 
and  I  think  these  experiences  have  made  me  more  ready 
to  feel  the  sorrows  of  others  in  their  bereavements. 


ILLNESS   OF  CHILDREN  49 

"Wishing  all  heavenly  consolation  to  you  and  your 
family  in  your  time  of  trial,     I  am,  very  sincerely  yours, 

''O.  W.  Holmes." 

**  I  cannot  help  saying  that  the  hearts  of  our  two  countries 
have  never  been  brought  so  near  together  as  by  the  sym- 
pathy shewn  all  over  England  with  us  in  our  great  national 
affliction."  * 

To  James  Green,  Worcester,  Mass. 

Gloucester,  England,  24-8-1882. 

"  We  have  had  a  good  deal  of  illness  in  our  family  ever 
since  midsummer ;  five  children,  first  and  last,  down  with 
scarlet  fever ;  which  has  delayed  my  acknowledging  thy 
very  acceptable  letter.  The  children  have  had  the  fever 
but  lightly  ;  but  my  wife  in  nursing  three  of  them  before 
we  had  the  aid  of  a  trained  nurse,  so  utterly  exhausted 
her  strength  that  she  has  had  a  narrow  escape  of  her  life. 
I  am  glad  to  say  she  is  now  fairly  on  the  way  to  health 
again  however;  and  while  our  house  is,  I  believe,  as 
healthy  as  a  dwelling  in  the  town  can  be — for  the  town  is 
low  and  rather  damp — I  hope  before  long  we  may  be  able 
to  live  in  the  country,  where  a  more  bracing  air  will  give 
us  all  more  vigor. 

"If  the  reading  of  poetry  aloud  is  one  of  your  joint 
home-pleasures,  I  believe  you  would  much  enjoy  Wiffen's 
Translation  of  Tasso.  This  is  now  out  of  print.  I  picked 
up  a  second-hand  copy,  the  whole  twelve  thousand  stanzas 
of  which  I  have  read  aloud  to  my  wife  ;  some  parts  half-a- 
score  of  times  over.  Wiffen  was  a  Friend,  librarian  to 
the  Duke  of  Bedford  ;  and  his  first  edition  was  published, 
I  think,  in  1824. 

"Wordsworth  is,  on  the  whole,  my  favourite  poet.  I  am 
very  partial  to  his  '  Excursion.'  I  dare  say  thou  wilt  remem- 
ber the  piece  in  it  describing  the  deaf  peasant,  beginning 
'Almost  at  the  root 
Of  yon  tall  pine — the  shadow,'  etc. 

To  my  mind,  a  delightful  piece." 

*  The  death  of  President  Garfield, 


50  *  UPTON  KNOLL'   BUILT 

As  the  years  went  by,  the  mental  and  physical  strain  of 
living  on  the  business  premises  in  Eastgate  Street,  where 
little  sense  of  rest  could  be  enjoyed,  was  increasingly  felt 
by  John  Bellows.  For  this  reason  he  purchased,  in  1883, 
a  site  for  a  house  on  the  Cotteswold  Hills,  three  or  four 
miles  from  Gloucester,  near  the  village  of  Upton  St. 
Leonards,  and  the  work  of  building  "Upton  Knoll"  was 
quickly  begun.  When  the  new  home  was  finished,  in 
September,  1884,  the  family  removed  to  it  from  Saintbridge 
House — midway  between  Gloucester  and  Upton — which 
they  had  occupied  for  the  intervening  twelve  months. 

To  James  Green  ^  Worcester^  Mass. 

Gloucester,  England,  3- 12-1883. 

"  I  was  much  interested  in  one  of  thy  letters  with  an 
account  thou  gave  of  building  thy  house  ;  and  as  I  happen 
now  to  be  similarly  engaged,  I  will  jot  down  some  of  the 
particulars  about  our  domicile.  With  a  business  like 
mine,  and  so  large  a  family,  it  takes  many  years  to  effect 
such  saving  as  would  justify  building ;  but  my  little 
dictionary  has  sold  well,  and  the  profits  of  the  work  have 
shortened  the  period  of  waiting. 

"When  I  broke  down  so  utterly  last  spring,  as  to 
be  for  some  time  incapable  of  any  work,  my  wife  wisely 
foresaw  that  the  change  to  life  in  the  country,  and  the 
change  of  occupation  and  interests  involved  in  building  a 
house,  would  be  better  for  me,  when  convalescent,  than 
returning  to  the  old  groove  at  Gloucester.  So  by  the  end 
of  summer  we  had  brought  our  plans  to  feasible  shape, 
and  at  once  set  the  work  in  hand.  The  house  is  of  oolite 
stone,  lined  with  brick.  The  stone  is  quarried  further  up 
the  hill,  so  that  it  only  has  to  be  *  hauled '  down  to  us. 
The  brick  and  timber  have  to  be  hauled  up,  and  a  pretty 
tug  it  is  ;  sometimes  seven  or  eight  or  even  ten  horses  in 
a  line  at  one  load.  The  ascent  is  very  pretty  (though 
I  doubt  whether  the  horses  think  so ;)  steep  banks  on 
either  hand  covered  with  hedge  maple  and  clematis,  with 


I 


s 


UPTON  LANDSCAPES  51 

fine  oak  trees  at  intervals,  and  orchards  behind  the 
cottages  which  dot  the  way  all  along— a  road,  so  a  friend 
tells  me  who  has  lived  for  a  year  on  the  Syrian  mountains, 
like  that  from  Beyrout  to  Damascus,  where  it  begins  to 
climb  Lebanon.  On  the  top  of  this  is  a  table-land  of  a 
quarter-mile  wide,  when  a  second  higher  hill  rises- 
Pains  wick  Camp.  Our  house  is  at  the  beginning  of  this 
table-land.  It  gives  us  a  beautiful  series  of  landscapes, 
including  the  Forest  of  Dean  and  some  of  thd|,Cambrian 
mountains,  the  Wyndcliff  on  the  Wye,  the  Severn  Bridge 
and  broad  expanse  of  water,  the  towns  of  Gloucester, 
Cheltenham,  Tewkesbury  and  Worcester  (I  wish  it  were 
Worcester,  Mass. !)  the  Malvern  Hills  and  hills  in  Hereford- 
shire, and  the  line  of  the  Cotteswold  Hills." 

To  William  Plumbe,  Mansfield. 
Saintbridge  House,  nr.  Gloucester,  5-2-1884. 
"In  reference  to  thy  remark  about  the  importance  the 
early  Friends  attached  to  manifestations  of  the  unseen,  I 
believe  it  safe  to  say  they  regarded  these  as  the  substance 
of  all  religion.  '  This  is  eternal  life,'  said  our  Saviour, 
'  to  know  thee  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ,  whom 
thou  hast  sent.'  As  God  is  a  Spirit,  He  can  only  be 
known  by  His  own  unseen  manifestations  to  our  spirits ; 
and  Jesus  Christ  whom  He  has  sent,  both  outwardly,  in 
the  body  at  Jerusalem,  and  inwardly,  as  the  Light  which 
enlightens  every  man  who  comes  into  the  world,  can  only 
be  known  by  our  receiving  Him  inwardly,  where,  as  the 
Light,  He  is  manifested,  unseen  to  the  outward  eye.  That 
light  '  shines  in  darkness,'  the  darkness  of  the  carnal  or 
natural  mind ;  and  the  darkness  cannot  comprehend  it. 
The  truth  is  that  He  begins  by  very  small  manifestations 
to  the  soul— little  indications  of  our  wrong-doing,  little 
tenderings  of  the  spirit  towards  Him,  which  are  in  fact 
little  measures  of  the  Divine  Nature  offered  to  us.  As  we 
receive  these,  i.e.  obey  them  and  seek  after  them,  they 

D2 


52  INWARD  TRIAL 

are  increased  ;  for  to  him  that  hath  shall  be  given.  '  To 
as  many  as  received  him,  to  them  gave  he  power  to 
become  the  sons  of  God.'  So  that  Christ  in  His  secret 
visitations,  unseen  outwardly,  is  the  Alpha  of  our  salva- 
tion ;  and  if  we  close  with  those  visitations  He  becomes 
the  Omega  also  ;  the  beginning  of  our  faith,  and  the  end  of 
our  faith — even  the  eternal  salvation  of  our  souls.  For  to 
be  made  a  son  of  God,  a  partaker  of  the  Divine  Nature,  is 
to  be  created  anew  into  a  state  that  can  never  die. 

**I  hope  the  day  may  come  when  this  will  become 
as  clear  to  thee  as  noontide.  If  trials,  which  pass  away, 
help  to  prepare  this  state,  they  will  seem  small  at  last ; 
for  the  things  that  are  seen  are  temporal,  but  the  things 
that  are  not  seen  are  eternal." 

To  Paul  Jewill,  Nancegollan,  Cornwall. 

Gloucester,  25-3-1884. 

"  I  have  delayed  long  in  writing  thee,  not  that  I  had 
forgotten ;  but  because  I  am  so  often  under  the  cloud,  and 
in  the  midst  of  storm  and  trial  inwardly,  that  I  am  shut  up 
from  much  communication  on  the  matters  that  lie  nearest 
to  both  of  us.  Seldom,  I  believe,  a  day  passes,  without 
my  thoughts  turning  to  thee  ;  for  there  are  very  few  with 
whom  it  has  been  my  lot  to  feel  so  close  a  unity  and 
sympathy,  notwithstanding  that  the  channel  of  outward 
communication  has  been,  for  the  reason  I  have  mentioned, 
so  closed  to  me. 

"  The  pathway  of  conversion  and  of  sanctification  is 
a  mystery  to  the  natural  mind  that  no  time  and  no  ex- 
perience can  enable  it  to  comprehend.  Yet  if  we  keep 
down  like  little  children,  to  our  measure  of  faith,  there 
is  enough  of  submission  granted  to  us  to  enable  us  to 
endure  the  painful  overturnings  that  are  allotted  to  us, 
one  at  a  time. 

"  'He  that  belie veth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved,'  is  a 
text  some  of  the  wise  and  learned  men  dispute  the  validity 


DISCOURAGEMENTS  53 

of.  Whether  the  text  is  genuine  or  not,  the  truth  it  covers 
remains,  that  he  who  so  believes  as  to  bear  the  renewed 
baptism  of  the  Spirit,  knows  his  salvation  to  be  proved, 
and  experiences  a  growth  in  grace.  Again  and  again, 
of  late,  when  through  want  of  inward  silence  I  have 
allowed  the  natural  will  to  get  uppermost,  and  so  have 
begun  to  faint  and  grow  weary  of  the  heavy  cross  and  the 
suffering  that  stand  straight  in  the  path  before  me,  I  have 
been  quietly  recalled  by  the  remembrance  of  the  words, 
*  I  counsel  thee  to  buy  of  me  gold  tried  in  the  fire,'  and  I 
have  been  favoured  to  come  back  under  the  suffering 
again,  to  walk  in  darkness  and  fear,  staying  upon  the 
Lord,  and  hoping  in  His  mercy.  These  are  depths  in 
which  man  cannot  help  us  ;  where  no  past  experience 
either  of  our  own  or  of  others,  will  do :  nothing  but  the 
present  secret  power  of  the  Almighty.  To  sink  down 
into  silent  waiting  on  Him  is  the  only  way  when  the  storm 
is  heavy, '  when  the  blast  of  the  terrible  ones  is  as  a  storm 
against  the  wall ; '  and  then  as  we  do  so,  respite  sometimes 
dawns  on  us  when  least  expected.  The  enemy  makes 
these  trials  and  tossings  of  spirit  seem  endless  ;  but  they 
are  but  for  a  season  that  will,  in  the  right  time,  have  an 
end.  And  it  is  right  that  this  end  should  for  the  present 
be  hid  from  us  ;  else  self  would  have  a  share  in  our  tiding 
over  our  griefs,  instead  of  faith  carrying  us  over  all." 

To  the  same. 
Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  21-1-1886. 
"  My  wife  and  I  thank  thee  for  the  kind  and  much- 
appreciated  gift,  which  reached  us  to-day  in  excellent 
order.  How  often  I  wish  our  homes  were  nearer  together ! 
But  in  this,  no  doubt,  things  are  ordered  for  the  best.  Thou 
hast  been  present  to  my  thoughts  very  frequently  of  late, 
with  much  sympathy,  mingled  with  a  sense  that  thou  art 
too  much  given  to  discouragement.  I  have  lost  years  in  the 
same  way— looking  back  at  what  might  have  been,  had 


54  OBEDIENCE   OF  FAITH 

I  been  faithful,  and  easily  led  into  the  snare  of  concluding 
that,  after  so  many  lost  opportunities,  little  if  anything 
better  was  to  be  hoped.  Yet,  as  Philippa  Williams  once 
said  to  me,  after  a  complaint  to  this  eifect :  '  Well,  we 
cannot  live  on  past  regrets  ! ' 

"  The  Lord's  mercies  are  new  every  morning.  We 
have  been  unfaithful,  have  wasted  opportunities  ad  in- 
finitum. What  then?  Shall  we  neglect  this  morning's 
new  grace  and  mercy  because  we  have  not  made  the  best 
use  of  that  of  other  days  ?  At  every  given  moment,  no 
matter  how  poor  or  low  our  state  may  be — no  matter 
whether  we  have  backslidden  or  fallen,  there  is  still  at 
that  moment  a  little  light,  a  little  help,  a  little  strength 
from  above.  The  work  of  the  enemy  is  to  get  us  to 
undervalue  this.  If  in  no  other  way,  he  often  succeeds 
by  so  figuring  what  we  might  have  been,  as  to  make  us 
believe  there  is  no  hope  of  much  attainment  now.  But  as 
we  admit  our  shortcoming,  without  staying  in  it,  and  turn 
inward  to  our  lessened  degree  of  light,  it  is  still  powerful 
to  help.  Can  it  be  other  than  well-pleasing  to  God,  if, 
while  mournfully  conscious  of  not  having  been  good 
stewards  in  the  past,  we  begin  to  be  so  in  the  small 
matters  of  to-day  ? 

' '  It  takes  self-denial  to  retire  into  the  inward  quietude 
of  feeling  after  the  present  will  of  God  concerning  us— 
self-denial  to  resist  the  tendency  to  succumb  ;  but,  there  is 
always  strength  for  the  day.  The  only  condition  is,  our 
co-operation  with  it.  To  co-operate  with  the  Word  in  the 
heart  is  to  yield  the  obedience  of  faith.  What  if  the 
measure  is  small  ?  I  have  often  to  say  to  myself :  '  To 
him  that  hath  shall  be  given,  and  from  him  that  hath  not  is 
taken  away  even  that  which  he  had.'  I  have  wasted  the 
strength  I  had,  and  so  it  has  become  less.  I  might  have 
been  rich,  now  I  am  miserably  poor.  I  did  not  make 
a  wise  use  of  the  pounds — nor  even  of  the  shillings  ;  and 
now  the  Master  only  trusts  me  with  a  few  pence.     Shall  I 


LETTER  FROM  DR.  HOLMES  55 

\< 

repine,  and  tell  Him  that  if  I  had  the  pounds  now  I  should 
do  better  ?  Or,  shall  I  not  rather  say,  '  I  have  deserved 
my  poverty ;  but  now,  at  last,  at  any  rate,  I  will  try  to  be 
a  faithful  steward  of  the  pence.  What  if  I  never  grow 
rich  again ;  it  is  better  to  strive  to  become  a  faithful  user 
of  the  twopence  I  have  left— or,  rather,  that  has  just  been 
given  me,  than  to  neglect  it  because  it  is  but  twopence. 
At  any  rate  I  will  try  my  real  best,  poor  as  it  is.' 

"  Now  this  is  precisely  and  truly  my  own  state  as  I 
write  this  letter.  I  cannot  add  much :  there  is  nothing  for 
it  but  to  seek — to  seek  anew  and  cling  to  the  little.  Our 
Heavenly  Father  always  does  the  best  that  is  possible  for 
us,  taking  into  account  our  present  state,  and  I  feel  sure 
He  will  help  us." 

The  letters  referred  to  below  by  Dr  Holmes  have, 
unfortunately,  not  been  preserved. 

From  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes. 

Boston,  Jan.  28,  1885. 

"My  dear  Mr  Bellows, 

"  I  have  just  received  and  read  to  the  last  syllable,  with 
the  greatest  pleasure,  your  delightful  letter.  It  is  alto- 
gether too  good  for  any  private  correspondent,  and  ought 
to  go  with  another  one  you  wrote  me  giving  an  account  of 
the  funeral  at  an  old  manor-house,  into  some  of  your  public 
prints.  I  wonder  you  waste  so  much  fine  description  on 
any  one  individual.  However,  I  handed  it  to  my  wife, 
who  has  been  enjoying  it  as  I  have,  and  thanks  you  most 
heartily  for  the  great  pleasure  it  has  given  her. 

"  As  for  myself,  I  can  only  answer  you  decently  by 
sending  you  my  last  book — a  Memoir  of  Emerson,  which 
was  printed  a  few  weeks  ago,  and  has  proved  quite 
acceptable  here,  and  received  a  very  pleasant  notice  in 
the  '  Pall  Mall  Gazette,'  and  I  think  elsewhere,  in  England. 

"  My  thanks  and  my  poor  book  are  all  the  return  I  can 
make  for  that  long  and  beautiful  letter.    I  have  to  write  so 


56  LIFE  OF  EMERSON 

much  that  I  get  very  tired,  and  I  could  not  help  thinking, 
as  I  read  of  your  breaking  down,  how  I  should  like  to 
break  down— for  a  little  while,  and  not  the  main  part  of 
the  vital  machinery — so  as  to  be  forced  to  take  a  little  rest. 
A  few  weeks  of  absolute  idleness  would  be  a  great  bless- 
ing to  me,  but  I  am  caught  in  the  wheels  of  a  promise,  and 
round  I  must  go. 

"In  these  few  words  I  can  at  least  tell  you  how 
admirable  I  consider  your  description  of  the  extended 
scenery  around  your  new  mansion.  It  seems  to  me  you 
have  a  special  talent  for  scene-painting  in  words.  But 
what  a  wealth  of  natural  and  historical  and  poetical  land- 
scape you  overlook  !  I  do  not  like  to  be  envious,  but  a 
soil  that  has  been  trodden  by  Romans,  Britons,  Saxons, 
Normans,  and  holds  their  bones  and  their  memories,  is 
worth  walking  on,  living  on,  and  being  buried  in.  I  will 
not  be  ungrateful,  either,  for  I  have  a  beautiful  outlook 
from  my  library  window,  which  is  the  admiration  of  all 
my  English  visitors. 

"  I  must  stop— with  kindest  regards  and  remembrances, 
"  Faithfully  yours 

"  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes." 

To  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  Boston. 

Lizard  Point,  Cornwall,  6-8-85. 
"Here  at  last  is  the  moment  of  leisure  for  which  I  have 
long  waited,  that  I  might  acknowledge  thy  kind  gift  of  the 
Memorials  of  Emerson  after  some  acquaintance  with  its 
contents.  *  -^  -x-  j  have  reserved  the  volume  for 
reading  aloud  to  my  wife,  which  is  a  very  slow  process, 
because  our  available  time  for  reading  aloud  is  restricted 
to  the  interval  after  tea.  Even  this  has  to  be  divided  into 
sections,  to  suit  different  auditories,  whose  tastes  require 
different  books.  *  "f^  *  After  Lucy  has  gone  to  bed, 
things  go  pretty  smoothly  till  half-past  eight,  when  the  rest 
follow,  except  our  eldest  boy. 


STORIES  FROM  VIRGIL  57 

"  '  Max— hand  me  Emerson  :  there  it  is,  on  the  second 
shelf.' 

"  *  O  do  let  me  read  this  bit  first,  out  of  '  Stories  from 
Virgil ! '  I've  been  waiting  all  the  evening  to  do  it,  and  I 
have  to  return  the  book  this  week.' 

"  Here  is  a  case  that  evidently  admits  of  no  delay  ;  and 
as  he  is  now  translating  from  the  same  author,  we  assent, 
and  are  presently  interested  in  the  filial  piety  of  ^neas  as 
shown  in  the  funeral  games  he  sets  on  foot  in  honor  of  his 
father  Anchises. 

''Nine  o'clock  !  Time  for  Max  to  stop  ;  but  he  begs  to 
finish  the  chapter  ('only  a  few  more  pages,')  and  as  he  is 
in  the  middle  of  a  terrible  boxing  match,  we  let  him  go  on 
till  twenty-seven  minutes  past :  by  which  time  *  Dares '  is 
dragged  off  the  ground  with  his  toes  trailing  after  him, 
*  vomiting  blood,  and  teeth  in  the  blood.'  It  takes  some 
minutes  after  the  story  is  over  to  realize  the  inconsistency 
of  such  reading  in  the  family  circle,  or  semi-circle  even ; 
for  had  the  same  matter  occurred  in  the  newspaper,  we 
should  have  turned  away  from  it  promptly. 

* '  And  with  this  we  come  to  Emerson  :  reading  it  for 
our  third  course,  evening  after  evening,  till  now  it  is 
ended,  except  the  last  dozen  pages. 

"  It  has  interested  us  greatly  ;  for  though  my  knowledge 
of  Emerson  scarcely  extended  beyond  his  Essays,  which 
I  read  soon  after  Carlyle  issued  an  edition  in  England  (or 
rather  wrote  a  preface  to  it)  it  happened  that  only  a  week 
or  two  before  thy  volume  reached  me,  I  had  been  re- 
reading some  of  the  Essays  to  my  wife. 

"  And  what  a  nice  volume  it  is  !  Trenching  as  it  does 
on  the  whole  range  of  subjects  which  Emerson  had  occu- 
pied himself  with,  I  need  hardly  say  that  it  has  taken 
longer  to  read  than  almost  any  other  book  would  have 
done,  because  it  has  suggested  so  much  matter  for  con- 
versation and  digression.  And  to  make  one  digression 
here,  from  the  current  of  thought  principally  before  me, 


58  EMERSON  AND  WORDSWORTH 

may  I  mention  the  beautiful  get-up  of  the  volume.  Art 
thou  aware  that  the  type  of  the  head-line  of  the  title  page  is 
itself  an  illustration  of  Emerson's  remark  as  to  the  union 
of  one  new  and  one  old  strand  in  our  every  idea  ?  The 
words  '  American  Men  of  Letters '  are  in  a  very  beautiful 
black-letter,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  that  have  ever  been 
cut  either  in  Europe  or  in  America.  I  have  a  good  'fount' 
of  it,  having  always  had  a  special  liking  for  it.  It  is  a  pica 
cast  in  the  moulds  made  by  William  Caxton  himself.  The 
originals  are  still  in  existence,  in  the  foundry  once  belong- 
ing to  Dr  Fry,  the  Oriental  punch-cutter.  No  modern 
type,  although  better  finished,  at  all  equals  it  in  the  effect 
of  the  ensemble  of  a  page. 

"The  portrait  is  wonderfully  good  as  a  piece  of 
engraving,  and  it  enables  one  to  realize  Emerson  as  a 
man  whom  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  know 
without  loving.  Where  could  we  find  again  so  deep  a 
thinker  in  whom  there  is  so  much  of  the  simplicity  and 
innocence  of  a  little  child?  His  love  of  things  homely 
and  unaffected  is  to  me  the  most  attractive  feature  in 
his  character :  as  it  is  also  in  Wordsworth's.  If  both 
Emerson  and  Wordsworth  occasionally  fell  short  in  the 
endeavour  to  bring  out  the  poetry  of  a  homely  subject, 
it  seems  to  me  rather  from  putting  such  subject  too  much 
in  the  foreground,  than  from  making  it  part  of  the  picture 
at  all.  One  distinction  between  prose  and  poetry — I  had 
almost  said  the  essential  distinction — is  that  the  former 
depends  for  its  perfection  on  sharpness  of  outline,  on 
marking  a  subject  off  from  other  things  by  bringing  out 
its  detail ;  while  the  very  life  of  poetry  lies  in  its  rising 
above  detail,  in  its  softening  and  merging  lines  of  division, 
and  treating  everything  it  touches  on  with  a  degree  of 
vagueness ;  because  that  which  is  vague  and  indefinite 
calls  into  play  the  imagination  of  the  reader,  while  a 
picture  in  which  all  the  detail  is  filled  in,  leaves  no  room 
for  this  power  to  act  at  all.     A  poet  is  in  reality  not 


POETRY  59 

a  master  who  paints  for  us,  but  one  who,  working  with 
us,  teaches  us  to  paint  for  ourselves.  His  poem  is  an 
outline,  which  he  hands  to  us  with  certain  hints  as  to  how 
we  are  to  colour  and  to  shade  it,  as  a  draft  we  are  to 
copy  for  ourselves.  It  is  this  copy  of  our  own  making, 
and  which  no  two  of  us  ever  make  alike,  that  is  the  real 
poem  to  us.  It  is  because  of  this  element  of  vagueness, 
of  the  unknown  blending  with  the  known,  that  moonUght 
has  more  of  poetry  for  us  than  daylight  has  ;  and  that  the 
distances  in  a  landscape,  dying  away  into  haze,  delight  us 
more  than  sharp  foregrounds.  And  so  with  distances  in 
time,  with  the  far-off  borderland  between  history  and 
myth,  with  the  moonlight  of  ages  past,  in  which  a  few 
shining  points  bring  out  more  impressively  the  shadows 
from  which  they  emerge. 

"When  Emerson  would  give  the  gUmmer  of  romance 
to  barrows,  trays  and  pans,  he  might  do  so  on  the  one 
condition  of  setting  them  back  in  the  picture,  and  not 
drawing  too  much  attention  to  them.  In  adding  the  word 
'  tin,'  he  moves  a  step  forward,  calling  the  eye  to  the 
precise  detail  which  destroys  the  grace  of  it.  But  '  pots,'' 
indicated  vaguely,  may  be  made  part,  aye,  and  an  essen- 
tial part,  of  a  beautiful  picture,  a  picture  of  Mount  Zion 
and  the  columns  of  Solomon's  Temple  standing  out  against 
the  dazzling  sky  of  Palestine  :  '  Though  ye  have  lien 
among  the  pots,  yet  shall  ye  be  as  the  wings  of  a  dove 
covered  with  silver,  and  her  feathers  with  yellow  gold.' 
Or  again,  but  on  the  same  condition  of  vagueness,  and 
avoidance  of  detail,  in  Wordsworth's  description  of  the 
clouds  after  a  storm — 

'  fixed  resemblances  were  seen 
To  implements  of  ordinary  use, 
But  vast  in  size,  in  substance  glorified.' 

I  cannot  tell  how  many  passages  in  thy  memorials  of 
Emerson  I  had  mentally  marked  as  striking ;  but  one 
stands  pre-eminent,  overshadowing  all  the  rest  by  reason 


6o  *  TERMINUS' 

of  its  exact  application  to  my  own  condition  :  those  mourn- 
ful though  wise  lines  in  Terminus— 

'  There's  not  enough  for  this  and  that — 
Make  thy  option  which  of  two.' 

Yes.  I  feel  as  he  did  when  this  thought  pressed  on  his 
soul,  in  the  onward  sweep  of  time  that  shall  soon  be  time 
no  more  :  that  if  this  world  were  less  fleeting  and  eternity- 
further  off,  a  multitude  of  things  might  fitly  interest  or 
delight  us,  which  we  are  compelled  to  set  aside  lest  other 
and  deeper  things  should  be  set  aside  instead.  Even  this 
poor  letter,  which  I  began  in  Cornwall  a  week  ago,  I 
have  had  to  hold  back  to  finish  at  home  ;  for  the  tiny 
hindrances  to  work  which  we  do  not  take  into  account  till 
it  is  too  late,  leave  us  with  many  things  undone  at  last, 

for- 

'  There's  not  enough  for  this  and  that.' " 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    HOME    RULE    STRUGGLE 

AFTER  his  removal  to  Upton  Knoll,  it  became  a 
practice  with  John  Bellows  to  spend  his  mornings 
only  at  his  office  in  Gloucester,  and  the  additional  leisure 
thus  obtained  he  devoted  mainly  to  laying  out  his  garden : 
a  work  which  he  thoroughly  enjoyed.  This  peaceful 
occupation  was,  however,  soon  to  be  interrupted,  and 
his  energies  thrown  into  a  very  different  task. 

Up  to  this  time  he  had  taken  so  little  part  in  politics 
that  he  had  only  once  in  his  life  voted  for  a  parliamentary 
candidate.  The  introduction  of  the  Home  Rule  Bill  of 
1886,  however,  brought  him  face  to  face  with  what  he 
considered  a  most  serious  crisis  in  the  history  of  religious 
freedom.  He  had  always  been  a  strong  opponent  of 
everything  tending  to  increase  the  power  of  Romanism, 
and  in  the  new  policy  he  saw  a  grave  menace  to  the 
peace  and  liberty  of  his  Protestant  brethren  in  Ireland. 
He  feared,  moreover,  like  many  of  his  friends,  that  it 
would  lead  to  the  ruin  of  its  most  prosperous  province  : 
even  to  the  ruin  of  Ireland  itself,  and  to  the  final  dis- 
memberment of  the  empire.  Profoundly  convinced  of  the 
seriousness  of  the  peril,  he  now  threw  himself  definitely 
into  the  struggle,  no  one  ever  more  truly  carrying  out  the 
injunction,  '  Whatsoever  thy  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with 
thy  might.' 

On  the  formation  of  the  Liberal  Unionist  Association  he 
joined  its  ranks,  and  became  treasurer  of  the  local  body. 
Besides  an  immense  issue  of  literature,  much  of  it  from 


62       VALUE  OF  A  SIMPLE  STYLE 

his  own  pen,  he  contributed  scores  of  letters  to  the  press, 
and  maintained,  at  one  time,  as  many  as  three  distinct 
newspaper  controversies  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 
A  few  extracts  from  the  wide  correspondence  he  kept 
up,  throughout  the  conflict,  with  his  friends,  and  fellow- 
workers  of  all  ranks,  are  here  given. 

To  the  Secretary^  Liberal  Unionist  Association^  London. 

Gloucester,  20-5-1886. 

"  I  have  been  rather  painfully  taken  by  surprise  since  I 
began  writing  on  this  Irish  matter,  to  find  that  words 
which  are  perfectly  natural  to  us  of  the  middle  class,  are 
obscure  or  even  meaningless  to  moderately  intelligent 
artisans.  Take  junta  for  instance.  I  feel  sure  not  one 
man  in  my  printing  staff — and  they  are  really  above  the 
average— could  give  the  slightest  idea  of  its  meaning.  I 
am  now  trying  with  but  poor  success  to  remodel  my  own 
style  to  meet  this. 

"I  am  sure  William  Arthur  will  not  be  hurt  at  my 
remarks,  but  I  recollect  a  sermon  preached  in  a  little 
chapel  near  Camborne,  at  the  close  of  which  the  preacher 
stated  that  a  collection  would  be  made  towards  the  liquida- 
tion of  the  chapel  debt.  A  friend  of  mine  overheard  a 
miner  afterwards  ask  another,  '  What  do  he  mean  by  that 
there  word,  liquidation  I  reckon  it  was? '  '  I  don't  know,* 
was  the  reply,  '  unless  they  are  going  to  whitewash  the 
chapelM" 

To  the  same. 

Gloucester,  26-6-1886. 
' '  The  distribution  of  your  tracts  is  all  done  except  at 
some  few  outlying  points  which  are  not  in  contested  parts. 
Independently  of  this  we  have  six  men  on  in  the  City 
of  Bristol,  working  through  the  contested  parts,  I  believe 
even  without  the  knowledge  of  any  one  of  the  candidates. 
They  are  distributing  fresh  literature  there.    We  have  also 


NEGLECT   OF  OPPORTUNITIES  63 

several  working  men  from  Ireland,  going  to  village 
meetings  and  among  any  gatherings  of  working  men  in 
the  towns,  to  talk  them  into  some  knowledge  of  the  Home 
Rule  question.  These  men  produce  much  more  effect 
than  hired  bill  distributors  who  know  nothing  of  what 
they  are  engaged  in." 

To  the  same. 

Gloucester,  9-2-1887. 

"  I  trust  my  known  earnestness  in  the  cause  of  the  Union 
may  be  a  sufficient  excuse  for  venturing  to  urge  again  on 
your  Committee  the  need  of  more  education  of  the  public, 
by  literature,  not  during  the  heat  of  an  election,  but  irre- 
spective of  any  immediate  contest. 

"I  suspect  no  man  in  England  has  felt  the  sting  of 
G.  J.  Goschen's  defeat  at  Liverpool,  by  only  seven  votes, 
more  sincerely  than  I  have  done.  Of  course  when  we 
speak  of  any  one  thing  as  having  caused  this  loss,  we 
cannot  forget  that  many  things  go  to  make  up  the  whole 
result — mail  contracts,  and  many  more. 

"  But  with  me,  the  sore  point  (as  it  ought  to  be  with 
you)  is  the  gross  neglect  of  using  literature  throughout 
the  election.  As  thou  art  aware,  both  the  '  Times '  and 
the  *  Standard '  commented  on  this.  If  I  had  not  known  to 
a  certainty  that  you  were  in  earnest,  it  would  have  been 
impossible  to  resist  the  conclusion  that  this  fatuous  neglect 
was  the  work  of  a  secret  enemy  of  the  cause. 

*'  On  my  own  responsibility  at  the  beginning  of  last 
month  I  sent  a  good  man  to  Plymouth  to  help  counteract 
the  effect  of  Parnellite  meetings,  with  a  large  supply  of 
sharp,  telling  literature  ;  and  I  begged  a  further  lot  from 
the  Loyal  and  Patriotic  Union,  which  they  instantly  sent. 
We  got  further  help  in  delivering  the  bills  on  the  spot, 
and  I  can  only  say  that  the  effect  was  beyond  my  hope. 
Some  fifty  Gladstonian  voters  voluntarily  came  forward 
within  a  few  days  of  the  reception  of  the  leaflets  and 


64  PLAN  OF  ACTION 

tracts  to  say  they  would  never  again  vote  for  '  Home 
Rule.'  As  this  resulted  from  the  distribution  of  about 
100,000  bills,  etc.,  in  Plymouth,  Devonport,  and  Stone- 
house,  I  believe  no  one  would  say  it  is  an  unreasonable 
conclusion  that  a  score  of  votes  at  the  very  least  would 
have  been  turned  in  the  Exchange  division  of  Liverpool 
in  like  manner.  I  am  so  certain  of  this  that  I  have  begged 
the  Belfast  Committee  to  spare  me  two  men  even  now  to 
go  there,  for  there  will  be  other  elections  yet,  and  bad  as 
the  disappointment  has  been,  it  shall  not  be  our  fault  if  it 
is  repeated  there  next  time. 

"  I  feel,  and  gratefully  feel,  the  priceless  services  that 
have  been  rendered  to  the  cause  of  law  and  order  by  the 
speeches  of  your  leading  men ;  but  these  surely  need 
following  up  through  the  press,  not  fitfully,  but  steadily 
everywhere. 

' '  At  this  very  moment  the  Glenbeigh  affair  is  left  nearly 
unchallenged  in  the  hands  of  men  like  Conybeare,  to  work 
into  political  fireworks,  when  but  difew  of  the  facts — such 
as  old  Lord  Hedley's  allowing  the  subdivision  of  the  farms 
to  go  on  unchecked,  and  so  laying  the  foundation  of  this 
poverty  and  suffering — would  spoil  the  game  of  the 
agitators,  if  published  widely. 

"  I  write  this  letter  in  trembling  apprehension  for  the 
result  even  of  this  less  dangerous  election  now  in  pro- 
gress ;  but  even  if  you  gain  it,  as  I  sincerely  hope  you 
will,  do  not  let  the  accidental  winning  of  one  battle  blind 
you  to  the  risk  of  utter  and  final  defeat  unless  the  plan 
of  campaign  of  the  Liberal  Unionists  is  changed." 

To  a  Correspondent. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  8-3-1887. 
"  I  have  now  carefully  read  over  thy  MS.  on  Home  Rule 
and  its  consequences.     I  am  bound  to  say  I  consider  it  a 
very  thoughtful  and  convincing  essay,  which  if  it  could  be 
got  largely  into  circulation  would  not  fail  to  do  good. 


UNIONIST  LITERATURE  •  65 

"■  The  difficulty  is,  how  to  do  this.  The  cost  of  printing 
such  a  book  would  render  it  impossible,  with  any  available 
funds,  to  circulate  it  by  the  hundred  thousand.  And 
unless  we  can  reach  hundreds  of  thousands,  we  make  no 
sufficient  mark  on  the  masses.  I  have  had  this  difficulty 
of  appealing  to  enormous  numbers,  painfully  present  to 
my  mind  for  the  past  eleven  months  since  I  began  cir- 
culating Anti-Separatist  leaflets  and  handbills.  Happening 
to  have  at  my  command  a  large  printing  office  and  many 
machines,  I  have  strained  my  private  means  to  the  utmost 
in  using  this  plant.  Up  till  now  I  have  struck  off,  and  for 
the  most  part  given  away,  about  five  millions  of  leaflets — 
say  sixteen  tons  of  paper ;  with  the  result  that  I  shall 
never  again  recover  the  degree  of  ease  I  had  hoped  for 
after  thirty  years  of  business.  I  do  not  in  the  least  grudge 
or  regret  this  expenditure.  It  was  just  and  necessary  ; 
and  I  feel  it  a  privilege  to  have  been  able  to  incur  it." 

To  Dr  Hiibner,  Berlin. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  7-4-1887. 
^      *         -jf  *         *         * 

"  I  may  mention  that  in  spite  of  my  not  being  well  able 

to  work  more  than  a  few  hours  daily,  which  are  taken  up 
with  my  printing  business,  I  have  taken  an  active  part  for 
the  last  twelve  months  in  the  exposure  and  combating  of 
some  of  the  fallacies  of  the  Separatists  who  seek  to  sever 
Ireland  from  Britain.  This,  partly  from  the  accident  of  my 
being  a  printer,  and  having  the  means  at  hand  of  cir- 
culating leaflets  or  bills  on  the  subject,  on  a  very  large 
scale.  Thus,  during  some  11  months  I  have  printed  and 
sent  out  some  five  millions  of  copies  of  such  leaflets  ;  and 
as  some  of  these  have  been  translations  into  Welsh  and 
Gaelic  (for  the  Highlands  of  Scotland)  an  idea  has  struck 
me  that  I  may  take  advantage  of  the  information  obtainable 
through  our  distributors,  to  do  what  I  believe  has  never 
yet  been  attempted — i.e. ,  draw  up  a  linguistic  map  of  Great 
Britain,  showing  the  portions  over  which  the  native 
E 


66  WELSH  AND  GAELIC  LEAFLETS 

dialects  of  the  Celtic  stock  are  spoken,  and  the  degree  in 
which  they  hold  their  ground. 

"Thus  I  find  from  a  Welshman  who  is  engaged  in  the 
work,  that  certain  parts  of  Pembrokeshire  are  Welsh  en- 
tirely ;  other  parts  (the  southern)  nearly  all  English ; 
others  where  Welsh  is  spoken,  but  where  the  bulk  of  the 
people  also  speak  English. 

"And  similarly  in  Scotland — there  are  regions  where 
no  English  is  understood,  while  in  others  the  people  are 
bilinguists.  One  practical  difficulty  in  appealing  to  these 
old  Britons  and  Caledonians  in  their  own  tongues  is  the 
variety  of  dialects.  Thus,  I  had  two  chapters  of  Irish 
History  translated  into  Welsh  by  William  Spurrell,  of 
Carmarthen.  He  is  the  author  of  one  of  the  best  Dic- 
tionaries of  Welsh  and  English,  and  is  a  man  of  considerable 
intelligence.  Yet,  at  Aberystwith,  a  Welsh  clergyman 
tells  me  the  Welsh  of  my  history  is  not  good,  and  gives 
me  some  of  his  own.  I  send  both  on  to  Penrhyn  (Bangor) 
for  criticism,  only  to  find  my  north  Welsh  friends  consider 
both  bad  !  So  I  am  getting  two  recent  papers  translated 
into  north  Welsh ! 

"The  Gaelic  I  had  done  in  Edinburgh,  and  very  care- 
fully revised  by  the  Professor  of  that  language.  Now 
I  get  complaints  from  Argyllshire  that  it  is  '  strange  in  its 
pronunciation  '  (by  which  I  suppose  they  mean  its  spelling.) 
As  I  find  they  can  clearly  understand  it,  however,  I  shall 
let  them  '  fight  it  out.'  If  I  can  succeed  with  the  map,  it 
will  be  very  interesting  in  a  generation  or  two,  to  show 
what  the  degree  of  persistence  may  be,  or  of  retrocession, 
in  the  Celtic  tongues  of  this  island." 

To  the  Secretary,  Liberal  Unionist  Association,  London. 

Gloucester,  7-6-18^. 
"  South  Wales  above  all  for  John  Bright's  letter.     If 
thou  wilt  arrange  for  a  large  distribution  in  Cardiff  and 
Newport,  I  will  willingly  give  5,000  each  of  the  enclosed 


IRISH   LANDOWNERS  67 

— 20,000  to  each  town.  Swansea  I  have  been  able  to 
reach  already  with  32,000.  Or  I  will  of  course  omit  either 
that  may  be  thought  less  suitable,  and  give  more  of  the 
others. 

"J.  Hack  Tuke  is  having  100,000  each  printed  of  his 
own  letter  in  the  '  Liberal  Unionist'  a  few  weeks  ago,  and 
of  Canon  Griffin's :  both  excellent.  Some  of  these  will 
be  available  for  any  point  you  wish." 

To  a  leading  Irish  Landowner. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  22-9-1887. 

"  If  having  taken  an  earnest  part  in  the  struggle  for 
maintaining  the  Union,  not  without  some  personal  sacrifice, 
may  be  a  sufficient  plea  for  venturing  to  write  thee  at 
a  critical  moment  in  that  struggle,  I  may  offer  it,  for  I 
have  no  other  to  offer. 

**I  fear  the  Irish  landowners  are  about  to  make  a  fatal 
mistake.  They  have  in  several  respects  been  dealt  with 
unjustly  ;  and  they  rightly  realize  that  the  battle  they  have 
to  fight  is  not  that  of  their  own  order  only,  but  is  a  contest 
with  communism  which  threatens  every  class  in  the  king- 
dom with  injury  or,  it  may  be,  with  ruin. 

"With  a  short-sightedness  that  is  almost  incredible, 
they  rely  in  this  crisis  upon  putting  their  case  before  the 
Government ;  ignoring  that  the  sole  power  of  the  Govern- 
ment is  in  the  will  of  the  democracy  :  the  'public  opinion' 
of  the  masses  in  this  country,  which  is  still  uninformed, 
and  which  for  a  little  while,  but  only  for  a  little  while 
longer,  is  still  largely  amenable  to  reason  or  to  passion. 

"The  Parnellites,  wiser  in  their  generation  than  those 
who  seek  to  maintain  the  Union,  have  seen  this,  and  have 
already  begun  to  act  upon  it  with  success.  They  are  lay- 
ing their  plans  for  doing  so  on  a  more  persistent  system, 
and  on  a  larger  scale ;  and  unless  the  field  is  promptly 
occupied  by  those  who  oppose  them,  they  will  most 
certainly  win  the  day,  and  you  Irish  landowners  will  be 

E2 


68  AN   OPEN  DOOR 

made  the  scapegoats  of  every  successive  Government 
until  the  last  penny  of  your  rents  is  stolen,  and  the  last 
acre  of  your  land  is  confiscated. 

"Your  bounden  duty,  not  only  to  yourselves,  but  to  the 
rest  of  society,  is,  instead  of  putting  the  cart  before  the 
horse  by  beginning  with  the  Government,  to  put  your  case 
before  the  masses  of  the  people.  If  you  will  not  at  this 
supreme  moment  bend  your  every  energy  to  instruct  the 
masses,  by  the  press,  by  lectures,  by  every  means 
legitimately  within  your  power,  you  will  fling  away  an 
opportunity  that  can  never  return.  You  now  have  an  open 
door  and  would  be  listened  to.  In  a  year  hence,  you  will 
find  it  hard  to  get  a  hearing,  and  yet  harder  to  convince 
those  who  will  have  become  set  in  false  opinions,  obstinate 
in  the  false  beliefs,  and  partisans  of  the  false  actions  which 
must  follow  the  unopposed  efforts  of  the  enemy. 

'*I  speak  from  no  mere  theory,  but  from  as  wide  a 
knowledge  of  the  situation  as  is  possessed  by  any  man. 
For  the  last  eighteen  months  I  have  been  in  correspondence, 
in  reference  to  this  contest,  over  a  line  from  Stornoway  to 
Penzance.  This  very  night  there  is  a  meeting  at  Crewe, 
tomorrow  night  at  Cheltenham,  the  night  after  at  Ciren- 
cester, for  each  of  which  I  am  responsible  ;  as  I  was  for  a 
similar  one  at  Gloucester,  which  turned  out  a  great  success 
and  did  much  good  to  our  cause."     ^    *    * 

To  a  Liberal  Unionist  Official. 

Eastgate  House,  Gloucester,  20-12-1890. 

"I  find  thou  wilt  not  be  able  to  come  to  Gloucester 
to-day,  and  I  therefore  venture  to  trouble  thee  with  a  few 
lines  on  the  chief  subject  we  should  have  had  to  talk  over— 
the  suggestion  from  headquarters  for  our  holding  a 
number  of  little  meetings  with  local  speakers  all  over  the 
country. 

*'  Now  with  all  deference  to  the  Central  Committee,  this 
is  a  great  tactical  mistake.      *     *      *      xhere  are  the 


UNIONIST  TACTICS  69 

Gladstonians,  with  whom  we  have  been  carrying  on  of 
late  a  sort  of  border  war — for  it  has  not  been  much  more — 
in  which  it  was  doubtful  whether  we  were  even  holding 
all  the  ground  we  had  gained  from  them;  when  all  at 
once  civil  war  bursts  out  in  the  very  heart  of  their  own 
camp. 

"Now  every  step  we  take  to  attack  them  openly,  at  this 
jimcture,  of  necessity  calls  away  some  of  the  force  to 
combat  us,  and  minimises  the  divisions  among  themselves. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  less  there  is  to  distract  their  atten- 
tion from  their  own  dissensions,  the  more  they  will  let 
those  dissensions  have  full  play. 

"  I  have  several  individual  Home  Rulers  in  my  mind  at 
this  moment  with  whom  I  have  argued  personally,  and 
lent  them  books  in  time  past.  They  have  yielded  a  little, 
and  then  some  rush  of  party  feeling  has  carried  them  back 
again  to  where  they  were  at  the  outset.  Now  if  we  held 
at  Gloucester  such  a  meeting  as  the  people  at  Great 
George  Street  wish,  and  I  persuaded  these  men  to  come 
to  it,  they  would  do  so  in  a  fighting  attitude.  Instead  of 
keeping  to  the  main  facts  that  now  confront  them,  they 
would  feel  themselves  bound  to  criticise  some  paltry  side 
issues  raised  by  our  local  speakers,  and  their  emergence 
from  Gladstonian  views  would  either  be  retarded  or 
reversed. 

"  If  the  Central  Committee  carry  out  their  plan,  they 
will  simply  put  a  feather  bed  between  the  Parnellite 
battering-ram  and  the  Gladstone  castle.  I  hope  the  bed 
will  burst !  " 

When  the  struggle  was  over,  it  was  very  gratifying  to 
John  Bellows  to  receive  a  letter  from  the  Prime  Minister 
(Lord  Salisbury)  acknowledging  his  sense  of  the  value  of 
his  services,  and  rejoicing  that  there  were  such  men  who 
would  "  come  forward  to  fight  the  cause  of  England  in  her 
peril,  not  from  any  party  prepossession,  but  from  a  pure 
sense  of  duty." 


CHAPTER  V. 

TRAVEL-HOME  LIFE— ARCHAEOLOGY— TITHE— J.  A.  FROUDE. 

LITTLE  explanation  is  needed  of  the  correspondence 
given  in  this  chapter.  As  many  of  his  letters  will 
show,  John  Bellows  was  always  eager  to  share  his  varied 
experiences  with  his  absent  friends. 

A  holiday  abroad  in  1888,  with  his  wife  and  his  son 
Max,  included  a  visit  to  Treves,  of  which  he  thus  wrote  : 

To  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes^  Boston,  Mass. 

Treves,  Germany,  19-6-1888. 

"  I  ought,  several  weeks  ago,  to  have  written  my  warm 
thanks  for  thy  kind  and  most  acceptable  gift  of  this  last 
volume  of  thy  poems ;  but  I  felt  somehow  sure  thou 
wouldst  forgive  the  delay  if  thou  knew  that  it  was  caused 
by  the  pressure  of  work  consequent  on  preparing  to  leave 
home,  and  by  the  continual  change  of  place  since,  to  which 
I  have  been  subject. 

' '  We  have  availed  ourselves  of  [this  journey]  to  serve 
two  or  three  subordinate  ends ;  for  it  has  enabled  us  to 
pay  two  long-pending  visits  to  friends — one  in  Germany 
and  one  in  France,  as  well  as  to  examine  some  Roman 
remains  in  the  museums  of  Cologne,  Bonn  and  Mannheim, 
for  comparison  with  those  we  have  found  in  Gloucester. 

"This,  for  the  following  reason: — when  the  Claudian 
invasion  of  Britain  took  place,  in  the  year  43,  the  army 
that  accomplished  it  was  not,  as  almost  everybody  fancies, 
sent  across  Gaul,  and  from  Boulogne  to  the  coast  of  Kent ; 
but  it  was  raised  in  Germany,  and  sailed  down  the  Rhine 
to  Holland,  and  thence  along  the  coast  to  Ostend,  or  a 
little  below,  and  then  due  west.    This  fact,  simple  in  itself, 


THE  NORTHERN  ROME  71 

has  been  strangely  overlooked ;  for  it  only  needs  patience 
in  placing  the  proofs  of  it  in  their  chronological  order,  to 
make  it  perfectly  clear.  In  the  year  9, 1  think,  the  Germans 
destroyed  a  Roman  army  under  Varus;  and  five  years 
after,  Germanicus  built  a  fleet,  and  took  eight  legions 
down  the  Rhine  to  revenge  the  death  of  his  countrymen 
and  to  permanently  conquer  the  German  tribes.  He  suc- 
ceeded. What  really  resulted  from  his  victory  was, 
however,  something  of  far  greater  import  than  the  mere 
subjection  of  a  couple  of  provinces.  By  this  extension  he 
moved  the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  whole  Roman  Empire^ 
and  ensured  the  downfall  of  the  great  City,  which  took 
place  several  generations  later.  If  we  put  down  on  the 
map  the  positions  of  the  legions  composing  the  whole 
Roman  army,  say  at  the  death  of  Germanicus,  or  about 
A.D.  20,  the  massing  of  double  as  many  men  on  the  Rhine 
as  in  any  other  part  of  Europe  will  convince  us  that  the 
strength  of  the  Empire  no  longer  lay  in  Italy,  but  in 
Northern  Germany. 

"  The  immediate  result  of  this  was  that  on  the  pacifica- 
tion of  the  new  province,  the  Roman  war  office  was  able 
to  spare  four  legions  from  Bonn,  Treves,  and  Holland, 
to  conquer  Britain ;  while  the  ultimate  result  was  that 
Diocletian  made  Treves  the  seat  of  Government,  to  the 
neglect  of  Rome  ;  and  Constantine,  after  building  his 
palaces  and  castles  on  the  Moselle,  saw  his  way  to  an 
extension  of  the  same  principle,  and  founded  the  other 
great  Capital  of  the  East. 

''  Here,  then,  we  are  in  the  northern  Rome.  No  other 
town  in  the  world,  I  suspect,  [except]  Rome  itself,  is  so 
crowded  with  the  remains  and  evidences  of  that  past  that 
has  moulded  us  all— that  underlies  our  arts,  our  sciences, 
our  homeliest  daily  life,  and  sends  one  strand  through  both 
what  is  true  and  what  is  false  in  all  that  we  do.  Where 
is  the  break  that  divides  the  old  time  from  the  new? 
or  the  moment  on  one  side  of  which  lay  the  barbaric 


72  HISTORICAL   CONTINUITY 

ages,  and  on  the  other  the  era  of  civilisation?  These 
are,  after  all,  but  the  names  for  co-existent  things  that 
gradually  alter  their  relative  proportions,  but  imper- 
ceptibly. The  building  of  a  new  house,  or  the  demolition 
of  an  old  one,  does  not  alter  the  identity  of  the  street : 
and  these  beautiful  shops  with  their  plate-glass  windows 
are  as  really  the  historical  continuation  of  the  city  of  the 
Treviri,  as  this  picturesque  old  hostelry,  with  its  open 
galleries  and  quaint  court-yard  is  of  the  '  Rath-haus '  that 
it  used  to  be — Rath-haus,  now  misread  as  Rothes  Haus, 
and  the  outside  painted  red  to  make  the  fib  into  a  truth  !  — 
fib  believed  in  by  the  landlord  and  the  porter  and  the 
man  who  drives  the  omnibus  ;  for  is  not  this^  too,  painted 
red  to  match  ?  *  Nein,'  quoth  he,  '  Das  ist  nicht  das 
Rathh2i\xs ' !  ! 

*'If  we  follow  back  this  clue  of  historical  continuation 
from  the  Roman  time,  we  find  it  helps  to  explain  many 
a  matter  seemingly  unconnected  with  that  beginning,  but 
only  seemingly.  Had  the  legions  that  held  the  Rhine 
been  eighty,  the  whole  of  Germany  would  have  been  as 
Latinized  as  Gaul ;  but  Drusus  put  his  colony  on  the  left 
bank  (Cologne,)  and  so  were  the  large  cities — Bonn, 
Mainz,  Worms,  and  Strasburg.  This  left  the  Germans 
more  of  their  nationality,  and  made  the  Gauls  more  ex- 
clusively Romans.  Thus  it  left  the  gap  between  them 
wider  for  after  ages,  and  therefore  increased  the  chances 
of  war  for  both.  On  the  other  hand,  that  left-bank  occu- 
pation did  Romanize  the  tribes  subjected  to  it — got  them 
to  plant  the  vine,  to  imitate  the  Italian  cookery,  and  to 
perfume  their  handkerchiefs.  Who  but  a  Roman  citizen 
would  have  enticed  his  descendants  into  making  Eau-de- 
Cologne  ?  An  American  Indian  would  never  have  done 
it,  nor  a  Hamburger,  yet  I  saw  in  the  museum  (near 
the  Jiihchsplatz,  which  Jean  Maria  Farina  bids  us  note) 
the  tombstone  of  a  perfumer  who  died  in  th^ first  century, 
at  Colonia  Agrippina!    I  have    a    copy   of   it,   with    a 


TREVES 


73 


translation.  It  is  simple  and  dignified — nothing  about  the 
*  odour  of  sanctity '  and  other  mortuary  fibs  ! 

"  It  is  precisely  this  which  archaeology  ought  always  to 
keep  before  us— that  the  present  and  the  past  are  but  one 
chain,  and  that  no  link  between  them  is  broken.  The  past 
is  in  the  present,  and  will  be  in  it  for  all  time.  The  broad 
street  that  runs  from  this  '  Platz '  to  the  Porta  Nigra,  and 
along  which  we  go  to  the  Bahnhof,  is  the  same  road  the 
legions  marched  upon  when  they  left  for  Britain,  and 
the  winding  streets  that  diverge  from  it,  with  their  tall  and 
many-windowed  houses,  only  witness  [to]  the  sieges  and 
fires  that  have  forced  them  out  of  their  line.  At  this 
moment  they  are  draped  with  a  sea  of  flags,  in  mourning 
for  the  dead  Kaiser  Friedrich,  and  the  bells  are  filling  the 
whole  air  with  their  melody — the  sweet  and  sad  and 
dreamlike  melody  of  the  Middle  Ages  they  come  from. 

"It  is  a  solemn  moment  for  Europe.  Many  millions 
of  hearts  are  trembling  for  what  the  near  future  may 
bring  ;  for  a  few  brief  words  from  the  new  Emperor  may 
mean  peace  or  war  for  Germany  or  France.  Oh !  if  the 
two  peoples  could  but  see  and  know  each  other  as  they 
really  are  and  not  as  they  falsely  imagine  each  other! 
They  are  both,  as  to  the  masses,  nervously  anxious  for 
peace,  nervously  apprehensive  each  that  the  other  is  not 
to  be  trusted. 

■X-  -x-  *  -x-  * 

"  Nearly  a  week  has  passed  since  I  stopped,  at  this  inn. 
Summoned  to  dinner,  and  from  dinner  to  the  express 
train  for  Luxemburg  and  Brussels  and  home.  So  there 
was  nothing  for  it  but  to  fold  the  sheet  in  a  hurry  and  put 
it  in  my  pocket-book  till  the  next  moment  of  leisure, 
which  has  come  in  this  rainy  evening  while  I  look  out  of 
my  own  window  on  the  green  summer  landscape  of 
England  again. 

"  The  Kaiser's  message  —  and  it  was  a  splendid  and 
kingly  speech — was,  after  all,  one  of  peace  and  reassur- 
ance.   It  is  something  if  the  curse  of  war  may  be  averted, 


74  VISIT  TO  A  FRENCH   CHATEAU 

if  but  for  a  few  brief  years ;  for,  alas !  it  will  come  some 
day  and  turn  the  pleasant  daylight  once  more  into  the  night 
of  affliction.  There  are  too  many  passions  and  jealousies 
lying  latent  in  the  world  to  let  us  hope  otherwise. 

*'  The  continual  recurrence  of  ruined  castles— of  fortified 
towns — of  battlefields  and  scenes  of  great  historic  events — 
the  constant  coming  in  contact  with  bodies  of  armed  men, 
makes  it  difficult  to  get  away  from  this  one  dominant  idea. 

"  Yet  there  were  some  sweet  contrasts  to  it.  We  paid 
one  visit  at  a  French  chateau,  to  a  friend  who  has  been 
pressing  us  to  come  and  see  him  ever  since  I  made  his 
acquaintance  at  Metz  in  1870.  It  was  no  great  distance 
from  the  Palatinate  to  the  little  town  in  the  Vosges  where 
he  lives,  and  we  went:  to  receive  the  most  unbounded 
hospitality  our  host  could  devise.  He  has  a  great  admira- 
tion for  England  in  many  ways,  and  both  his  wife  and 
himself  speak  our  language,  while  their  only  child,  a 
charming  delicate  little  girl  of  thirteen,  is  absolutely  undis- 
tinguishable  from  an  English  native.  She  spoke  English — 
from  her  nurse — earlier  than  French :  and  all  her  favorite 
books  are  in  the  same  tongue.  My  wife  declares  her  to 
be  the  sweetest  child  she  has  ever  seen — simple,  natural, 
unaffected :  kissing  the  old  peasant  woman  who  greeted 
her  at  the  railway  station  with  heartiest  affection,  uncon- 
scious of  the  chasm  that  too  often  separates  the  rich  from 
the  poor,  and  on  the  upper  margin  of  which  she,  if  any 
one,  might  take  her  stand ;  for  she  is  the  last— the  very 
last — of  a  family  of  the  old  French  noblesse." 

From  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes. 

Beverly  Farms,  Mass.,  Aug.  10,  1888. 

*'My  dear  Mr  Bellows, 

'*  I  have  had  your  interesting  letter  on  my  table  for 
a  good  many  weeks,  with  the  intent  of  answering  it,  and 
have  waited  and  waited,  I  am  afraid  through  indolence, 
partly,  but  all  the  time  feeling  that  it  deserved  a  great  deal 
fuller  and  better  answer  than  it  was  like  to  get.     Your 


NEW  ENGLAND  75 

letters  always  contain  suggestions  which,  if  I  were  younger 
and  more  lively,  would  set  me  out  on  trains  of  thought 
which  would  lead  into  long  tracks  of  study.  What  you 
say  of  Treves  and  the  part  it  played  in  the  period  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  would  start  me  off  on  a  historical  tour, 
beginning  with  my  old  friend  Gibbon,  and  ending  with — I 
do  not  know  what,  but  probably  some  German  writer 
who  upsets  all  that  have  gone  before  him,  and  is  waiting 
to  be  upset  by  somebody  that  is  to  come  after  him.  But  I 
enjoy  your  bits  of  archaeology  and  smile  superior  at  the 
poor  creatures  who  talk  about  the  red  house  and  drive  the 
red  omnibus.  What  a  pleasure  to  you  old  world  people 
to  have  the  recollections  of  so  many  antiquities — Britons, 
Celts,  Romans,  Germans  and  the  rest — around  you  and 
under  your  feet.  We  poor  colonists  have  little  except  the 
Indian  arrow-heads,  scrapers,  mortars  and  pestles.  No  ! 
I  will  not  be  unfair  to  our  past.  Yesterday  I  took  a  drive 
with  my  daughter  to  the  town  of  Ipswich,  ten  miles  from 
here.  A  delicious  old  town,  with  buildings  which  have 
stood  two  centuries  and  more,  and  with  an  old  bridge, 
said  to  be  the  first  with  arches  of  stone  ever  built  in  New 
England.  Two  hundred  years  ago  this  whole  neighbour- 
hood was  more  or  less  infested  by  witches^  and  at  Salem, 
which  is  less  than  ten  miles  from  here,  nearly  twenty 
were  executed  for  that  offence.  Our  forefathers  went  by 
the  Old  Testament,  in  which  they  read  '  Thou  shalt  not 
suffer  a  witch  to  live,'  and  they  acted  accordingly  while 
the  delusion  lasted. 

'*  You  will  [have]  wanted  to  know  something  of  how 
my  daughter  and  myself  are  getting  along.  Of  course  we 
live  very  quietly  here — if  there  are  gaieties  we  do  not  join 
in  them,  and  there  is  very  little  of  that  nature  this  season. 
I  expect  to  make  a  short  visit  to  friends  at  a  place  become 
very  famous  within  a  few  years — Bar  Harbour  it  is  called, 
and  said  to  have  scenery  of  wonderful  beauty. 

''  I  am  glad  to  know  that  you  are  safely  back  in  England, 
and  shall  always  be  happy  to  know  of  your  welfare.     I 


76  EISENACH 

cannot  often  write  as  long  a  letter  as  this,  for  my  eyes  are 
getting  dimmer,  and  it  is  something  of  an  effort  for  me  to 
write,  but  your  interesting  letter  could  not  be  dismissed 
with  the  formula  I  enclose,  which  I  think  I  have  before 
sent  you.    With  kindest  regards,  faithfully  yours, 

"  O.  W.  Holmes." 

In  the  Autumn  of  1889,  John  Bellows  and  his  wife  went 
to  Leipzig  to  see  their  eldest  son ;  and  took  the  opportunity 
which  this  journey  gave  them  of  visiting  many  of  the  places 
connected  with  the  life  of  Luther. 

To  Francis  Michell,  Redruth. 

Hentschel's  Hotel,  Leipzig,  17-10-1889. 

"  Here  I  am  on  the  Continent  again,  and,  reminded  by 
this  circumstance  of  the  journey  we  once  took  together  in 
Belgium,  I  take  pen  in  hand  to  send  thee  a  page  or  two 
which  will  probably  awaken  the  like  remembrances  on 
thy  own  part.  Of  course  it  would  be  impossible,  within 
the  limits  of  even  a  long  letter,  to  describe  the  places  we 
have  seen,  but  we  have  touched  upon  or  run  through 
parts  of  the  Thuringian  and  Hartz  forests  as  well  as  the 
Niederwald,  covering  some  of  the  most  beautiful  scenery 
in  the  German  Empire.  The  cream  of  the  cream,  barring 
the  Rhine,  is  the  country  round  Eisenach,  in  Thuringia— 
a  district  so  closely  associated  with  the  history  of  Martin 
Luther,  and  therefore  of  modem  Europe. 

"  Our  hotel,  just  out  of  the  town  of  Eisenach,  is  a  large 
Swiss  chalet  in  the  midst  of  a  steep  wood.  On  the  other 
side  of  the  narrow  valley  in  front  rises  a  sea  of  beech  and 
birch  and  oak  and  pine— now  in  all  the  glory  of  the  autumn 
colours,  contrasting  with  the  evergreens,  and  towering  up 
high  against  the  sky-Une.  Where  that  line  comes,  and 
standing  in  clear  relief  against  the  bright  blue  sky,  are 
the  towers  and  battlements  of  a  castle.  It  is  as  if 
Michael's  Mount  were  vaster  in  size,  and  crowned  by 
a  larger  building,  all  bosomed  in  the  forest  that  tradition 


LEIPZIG  FAIR  77 

assigns  to  it.  This  is  the  Wartburg — the  scene  of  Luther's 
friendly  imprisonment  by  the  Elector  of  Saxony  after  the 
Diet  of  Worms.  I  have  never,  at  any  time  or  in  any  land, 
seen  anything  quite  so  solemn  and  beautiful.  Long  after 
the  sun  had  set,  and  the  blue  sky  had  faded  to  grey,  and 
the  grey  into  night,  and  the  moonlight  stole  over  the  view, 
I  kept  stepping  out  on  the  balcony  to  look  at  it  again  until 
the  whole  landscape  seemed  a  dreamland — mysterious 
and  indescribable,  but  never  to  be  forgotten,   *    *    * 

"  The  real  place  for  meeting  with  people  of  many 
different  nationalities  is  the  fair  at  Leipzig.  For  ages 
regarded  as  the  great  central  point  for  Europe  and  Asia, 
the  wares  bought  and  sold  in  it  represented  the  industries 
of  all  lands,  both  East  and  West.  Now  most  of  the 
important  business  is  no  longer  conducted  in  booths,  but 
in  buildings,  such  as  the  Booksellers'  Exchange.  This  is 
a  sort  of  clearing-house  for  all  the  booksellers  in  Germany, 
who  come  once  a  year  to  show  all  their  new  things,  and 
to  square  up  accounts  for  the  year  past.  The  trade  in 
furs  is  a  very  great  one ;  mostly  in  the  hands  of  Jews. 
They  have  their  shops  pretty  much  together  in  a  street 
called  the  Briihl ;  and  here  in  the  fair-time  are  to  be  seen 
Oriental  Jews  in  their  long  yellow  caftans,  and  great 
curled  side-locks  of  hair. 

* '  On  the  platform  [of  the  station]  I  shoulder  a  pale-faced 
Russian  with  long  hair,  and  just  behind  him  is  a  Japanese. 
A  moment  after,  a  little  man,  glancing  at  my  dress,  asks 
dubiously  if  I  can  speak  English.  I  assure  him  I  do,  with 
ease ;  when  he  tells  me  he  is  an  American,  able  to  speak 
no  German ;  and,  as  we  part  the  next  instant,  he  looks  as 
if  he  would  give  fifty  dollars  to  be  in  Texas  again.  Poor 
fellow !  I  saw  a  Syrian  in  the  fair  who  looked  just  like 
that,  as  he  stood  behind  his  little  counter  trying  to  sell 
nick-nacks  from  Bethlehem,  which  the  Leipzigers  did  not 
care  to  buy.     *    *    * 

*'  Often  it  happens  that  what  makes  the  most  lasting  mark 
upon  us,  is  not  the  greatest  object  or  principal  event,  but 


78 


BIRTHPLACE 


something  accidentally  connected  with  these.  It  is  so 
with  me  now ;  for  here  at  the  close  of  so  many  hundreds 
of  miles  of  travel  in  this  German  Empire,  with  the  mul- 
titude of  scenes  it  has  added  to  one's  store  of  memories, 
there  comes  a  kind  of  refrain  below  and  behind  them  all, 
in  the  sound  of  the  streets  of  Leipzig  as  I  lay  in  my  bed  at 
night  at  Hentschel's  Hotel.  It  was  a  low,  subdued,  solemn 
sound,  as  of  some  distant  sea.  But  the  waves  of  that 
sea  had  rolled  hither  from  every  corner  of  Europe  and 
Asia ;  and  the  tide  that  bore  them  had  risen  and  fallen 
for  hundreds  of  years  from  the  islands  of  Greece  and  the 
Persian  plains,  and  the  mountains  of  India  and  the  shores 
of  Siberia.  As  I  shall  never  forget  the  Thuringian  Forest, 
neither  shall  I  ever  forget  the  majestic  sound  of  the  streets 
of  Leipzig  and  all  that  that  sound  conveyed  to  the  imagina- 
tion, of  the  throng  of  kindreds  and  peoples  and  tongues 
whose  voice  it  was:  a  vast,  sublime,  never-ending  poem." 


In  August,  1890,  John  Bellows  cycled  through  Cornwall 
with  his  two  elder  boys,  on  their  way  to  join  the  rest 

of  the  family  at  Mullion. 
From  the  Bell  Hotel,  Lis- 
keard,  he  wrote  to  his 
wife : — '*As  we  went  up  to 
our  rooms,  both  of  which 
faced  into  the  little  narrow 
'Church  Street,'  it  seemed 
as  though  a  tall  man  might 
have  leaned  out  of  the  win- 
dow and  touched  the  panes 
of  the  grocer's  shop  oppo- 
site. With  a  stick  I  cer- 
tainly could  have  done  so. 
I  did  not  know  till  this 
morning,  when  Mary  Eliott 
most  kindly  walked  down 
the  street  with  us  after 
Meeting,  to  show  me  the  spot,  that  my  room  was  next  to 
the  house  in  which  I  was  bom,  and  that  the  street  I  was 


BIRTHPLACE  AT  LISKEARD. 


'OVER  THE  TEACUPS'  79 

so  amused  with  as  a  sort  of  doll's  roadway,  was  the  very- 
one  upon  which  my  baby  wonderment  had  first  looked 
down,  long  years  ago  !  " 

To  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  Boston,  U.S.A. 

12  mo.  1890. 

"  Which  chord  shall  I  touch  to  begin  with,  as  I  rise  from 
the  first  few  hours'  delightful  reading  of  thy  book  ?  *  So 
many  are  answering  to  the  master  vibration  that  I  can 
scarcely  decide. 

"  I  have  been  reading  it  aloud  to  my  wife ;  and  again 
and  again  in  the  pauses,  some  lines  of  Runeberg,  the  poet 
of  Finland,  have  kept  coming  back  to  me  in  gentle  refrain, 
although  I  have  not  read  them  for  years : 

'  Shall  the  land  that  saw  thy  morning  bloom, 

That  saw  thy  noonday  bright, 
Not  also  see  thy  evening  come 

With  its  calm  sweet  sunset  light  ? 

One  mystery  thy  volume  has  set  me  further  away  than 
ever  from  solving :  and  that  is.  Where  is  the  boundary 
between  childhood  and  boyhood ;  or  boyhood  and  manhood 
and  [old]  age?  This  I  have  never  been  able  to  find.  .  .  Only 
this  very  evening  I  was  wheedled  into  an  interlude  from 
the  '  Teacups,'  by  a  deputation  of  four  Gallios  who  care 
for  none  of  these  things,  to  entreat  that  I  would  '  give 
them  a  chase.'  Seven-year-old  put  the  request  in  a  very 
low  voice  ;  for  a  '  chase '  in  this  house  is  forbidden  by  the 
mistress  on  the  ground  that  it  makes  a  dust :  it  destroys  the 
carpets  :  it  leaves  finger-marks  on  the  walls :  it  tears  the 
clothes :  it  upsets  the  furniture :  with  other  high  crimes 
and  misdemeanours  which  are  duly  set  forth  in  the  mani- 
festo that  forbids  chasing  *  indoors.'  So,  like  Shelley's 
*  sweet  child  Sleep,'  seven-year-old  *  murmurs  like  a 
noontide  bee ; '  while  ten-year-old,  and  five-year-old,  and 
eight-year-old  keep  furtively  glancing  at  the  arbitress  of 

*  'Over  the  Teacups.' 


8o  A   'CHASE' 

their  fate  to  make  sure  that  she  does  not  hear  what  is 

going  on.     And  so 

'  A  spirit  in  my  feet 
Has  led  me,  who  knows  how,' 

out  of  the  room,  these  four  stealing  silently  after  me  till 
we  get  to  the  foot  of  the  front  stairs,  when  off  they  go, 
like  hares,  I  following — into  the  bath-room,  and  the  day- 
nursery,  and  the  night-nursery,  and  down  the  back  stairs, 
for  dear  life  !  Every  one  I  can  catch  is  swept  off  to  prison, 
either  tucked  under  my  arm,  or  dragged  by  the  heels 
along  the  floor — according  to  size  and  weight.  (It  doesn't 
hurt  the  carpets  a  bit !  It's  only  a  superstition  of  the 
mistress.  They  look  fresher  than  ever  after  it !)  And  all 
this  time  there  is  a  din  of  voices,  in  calls  and  shouts  and 
shrieks  d  tue-tete,  as  the  French  say. 

"  By  and  by  a  message  comes  from  the  mistress  that 
the  chase  has  lasted  long  enough,  that  we  must  all  come 
into  the  dining-room,  and  that  it  is  Dorothy's  bed-time : 
which  is  followed  by  a  sudden  hush,  and  then  a  suppressed 
*  Oh ! '  of  disappointment  and  injured  resignation ;  and  we 
five  come  slinking  in,  very  red  and  hot :  I  to  resume  my 
place  as  an  invalid  in  the  arm-chair  by  the  fire,  for  I  have 
been  laid  up  several  days  with  a  cold  and  bronchitis, 
which  I  should  have  pleaded  as  a  weighty  excuse  for  not 
chasing,  only  that  the  children  could  not  understand  it. 
So,  being  obliged  to  go,  I  went ;  and  once  in  the  game, 
even  five-year-old  herself  could  not  throw  her  heart  and 
soul  into  it  more  entirely !  Boy  !  Why  I  never  was  more 
of  a  boy  in  my  life !  What  boy  in  the  whole  world  ever 
cared  about  carpets  in  the  midst  of  a  chase  ?  And  did  I 
care  one  straw  whether  they  were  old  sacks,  or  Cloth  of 
Gold,  or  the  High  Priest  of  Mecca's  prayer  rugs,  if  by 
racing  over  them  I  could  catch  two  of  those  hares  at  one 
hit  ?  Why,  here  is  a  game  older  than  Adam !  The  old 
hunting  instinct  of  the  cave-men,  as  a  modern  author  has 
shown,  came  down  to  us  by  heredity  ;  an  instinct  that  has 


MEETS  OLIVER  W.  HOLMES  8i 

scores  of  times  transformed  me  into  a  cave-bear,  under 
the  dining-room  table,  and  which  only  the  counterbalancing 
force  of  civilized  life  kept  from  transforming  me  into  an 
elephant  after  our  chase  was  over  just  now— crawling 
into  the  room  with  three  men  on  my  back,  and  one 
leading  me ! 

"I  do  not  think  that  anything  in  this  life  has  more 
puzzled  me  than  this  consciousness  that  the  bound  between 
boyhood  and  manhood 

'  Is  marked  by  no  distinguishable  line  ; 
The  turf  unites,  the  pathways  intertwine.* 

The  secret  is  this  (?)  that  we  go  on  adding  to  our  existing 
ring  of  life,  as  the  ammonites  do  with  their  spiral  shells. 
We  include  all  that  has  gone  before  ;  hence  we  can  keep 
more  fully  in  touch  or  in  sympathy  with  children,  than 
they  can  with  us." 

To  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes^  Boston,  Mass. 

Upton  Knoll,  GloiTcester,  9-4-1891. 

"  Nothing  is  harder  to  realize  than  the  flight  of  time.  It 
seems  but  as  the  vivid  yesterday  that  I  was  passing 
swiftly  through  the  streets  of  London  in  a  cab  with  thy 
daughter,  who  was  on  her  way  to  take  thee  from  one 
friend's  house  to  that  of  another,  in  the  crowd  of  engage- 
ments that  filled  up  thy  brief  visit  to  England.  Suddenly 
we  turned  out  of  the  throng  and  bustle,  and  in  a  few 
moments  drew  up  before  the  mansion  of  James  Russell 
Lowell,  from  whose  company  I  had  to  send  up  a  message 
to  summon  thee.  As  I  stood  in  the  hall  I  heard  his  voice 
in  a  cheery  leave-taking  on  the  stair  :  the  only  time  I  ever 
heard  it,  though  I  had  had  some  kindly  written  words 
from  him  anent  my  dictionary.  The  next  moment  I  was 
shaking  hands  with  thyself  and  receiving  the  greeting  that 
was  thereafter  renewed  in  Gloucestershire.  The  scene 
is  before  me  :    the  tall,   many-storied,   many- windowed 

F 


82  LITTLE  CHILDREN 

houses ;  the  silent  street  making  its  silence  felt  by  con- 
trast with  the  roar  of  the  great  tide  of  life  so  near  yet  now 
inaudible ;  the  lofty  elms  in  the  Park  close  by ;  and  the 
glinting  of  the  summer  afternoon  sun  on  the  sward  below. 
This  is  the  picture  that  makes  it  hard  to  realize  that  already 
two  out  of  the  three  principal  figures  in  it  have  passed 
away  from  time. 

"  I  recollect  thy  telling  me  that  Russell  Lowell  reversed 
thy  own  figure  of  '  76,'  and  I  realize,  not  without  pain, 
that  seventy-six  has  in  turn  given  way  to  other  numbers, 
and  that  each  of  these  bournes,  as  it  is  left  behind,  marks 
a  more  lonely  path  to  the  summit  of  the  hill !  More 
lonely— yet  never  wholly  companionless.  If  the  Father 
of  All  appoints  us  sorrow,  He  yet  tempers  it  with  some 
gleam  of  love ;  and  that  thirty-third  verse  of  the  eighty- 
ninth  Psalm  is  as  true  of  us  as  it  was  of  those  earlier 
children  of  men,  to  whom,  as  to  us,  the  three  preceding 
verses  apply.  If  our  very  sorrow  itself  were  not  mingled 
with  somewhat  that  is  of  a  different  nature,  we  should  not 
cherish  as  we  do  our  saddest  bygone  moments,  or  so 
willingly,  more  than  willingly,  recall 

'  The  touch  of  a  vanished  hand, 
And  the  sound  of  a  voice  that  is  still.' 

"  There  is  one  adoucissement  that  tells  on  us  with 
increasing  force  as  life  advances — the  society  of  little 
children.  Their  resistless  self-assertion,  their  uncom- 
promising insistence  on  our  entering  into  their  ideas  and 
ways,  to  the  utter  ignoring  of  our  riper  experience,  their 
dead  incapacity  of  sympathy  with  our  daily  anxieties,  and 
their  perennial  freshness  of  imagination,  all  help  us. 

"  I  come  home  jaded  and  careworn  from  my  work,  and 
tempted  to  think  my  lot  heavier  than  other  men's  :  when 
my  boy  Jack  comes  marching  up  to  me  with  a  sort  of  box 
in  his  hand — four  bits  of  board  nailed  together  with  brads 
and  tin-tacks,  and  two  thick  wooden  discs  that  he  has 
routed  out  of  some  cupboard,  to  make  a  baker's  cart.     I 


THE  BAKER'S  CART  83 

wanted  to  sit  and  *  rest '—that  is,  to  brood  over  the 
miseries  of  my  lot ;  but  Jack  cannot  stay  for  brooding  or 
anything  else.  He  has  been  '  waiting  such  a  long  time ' 
for  my  coming  home,  to  tell  him  how  to  saw  these  two 
wheels  edgeways  so  as  to  make  them  into  four  ;  and  how 
to  put  axles  to  them ;  and  the  end  of  it  is  that  I  have  to  set 
to  work  in  good  earnest,  and,  after  long  application  of 
blunt  tools  and  tool  substitutes — the  baker's  cart  is  finished. 
"  By  this  time  I  have  begun  to  take  a  real  interest  in  it. 
Next  morning  I  buy  a  wooden  horse  that  fits  it ;  and 
another  spell  of  work  ensues  in  the  fitting  of  his  harness. 
Dorothy  (five)  has  been  busy  in  the  kitchen  making  loaves 
to  go  in  it  for  a  load;  and  he  and  she  and  I  drag  it 
for  miles  along  the  sideboard  and  the  dining  table  and  the 
hall  floor.  In  the  course  of  the  evening  Jack  asks  me 
whether  a  mouse  could  pull  the  baker's  cart.  I  tell  him 
I  think  it  could.  Later  on  he  wants  to  know  how  many 
flies  are  as  strong  as  one  mouse.  Not  foreseeing  the 
bearing  of  the  question,  I  reply  somewhat  carelessly, 
'  Perhaps  a  hundred.'  Next  morning  I  meet  him  march- 
ing about  with  a  pasteboard  box  in  his  hand.  '  How  do 
people  feed  flies?'  'With  sugar.'  'How  much  sugar 
would  a  hundred  flies  eat  ? '  Now  in  strict  truth  I  could 
not  tell ;  but  an  answer  must  be  given  at  once,  and  so  I 
say,  '  Oh,  I  should  think  a  lump  would  last  them  three 
days.'  In  a  few  minutes  he  is  at  my  side  again  with  the 
box.  The  lid  is  cautiously  raised,  and  I  am  desired  to 
look  in.  '  I'm  going  to  catch  a  hundred  flies  and  tame 
them  like  the  man  did  the  fleas,  and  make  them  draw  the 
baker's  cart.  I've  caught  one.  There  he  is !  '  I  looked 
in.  There  was  a  large  lump  of  sugar  in  the  centre,  and 
the  fly  pacing  up  and  down  past  it  with  a  nonchalant  air 
as  if  it  did  not  concern  him  what  was  done.  Light 
streamed  in  through  a  number  of  pinholes  in  the  ceiling  of 
the  apartment,  intended  for  ventilation.  A  doll's  saucer 
full  of  water  stood  in  the  corner,  so  that  the  sanitation  of 

F2 


84  TAMING  FLIES 

the  place,  and  the  arrangements  for  the  comfort  of  the 
hundred  flies,  left  nothing  to  be  desired. 

"  The  time  at  breakfast  passed  quickly,  for  I  was  plied 
with  a  variety  of  questions  about  the  team  of  fleas  I  had  at 
some  time  mentioned,  that  were  trained  by  a  man  at 
Plymouth  to  draw  a  little  coach,  and  with  one  of  their 
own  species  sitting  on  the  box  as  driver. 

"  I  must  say  I  began  to  get  uneasy,  for  I  knew  not 
whereunto  this  would  grow,  and  I  slipped  off  to  the  office 
with  some  new  anxieties  in  my  mind.  At  dinner  the 
crisis  came.  '  Papa,  how  do  they  tame  flies  ? '  I  was  in 
a  dilemma ;  and  at  last,  humiliated  at  having  to  show  my 
ignorance,  I  was  forced  to  confess  that  I  did  not  know. 
'  And,  besides,'  I  hurried  on  to  add,  '  I  don't  know  how 
we  can  harness  them.  I  could  not  tie  knots  small  enough 
to  hold  them  without  hurting  them.'  There  was  a  pause 
of  disappointment.  Jack's  whole  scheme  was  breaking 
down.  He  had  looked  upon  me  as  able  to  do  anything,  if 
I  only  tried ;  and  now  I  had  failed  him.  Revolving  the 
whole  altered  position  in  his  mind,  he  at  last  said :  '  What 
had  I  better  do  with  the  fly  that  is  in  the  box  ?  Perhaps  I 
had  better  let  him  go?'  I  caught  at  the  idea  and  assented. 
The  fly  himself  had  come  to  the  same  conclusion  a  little 
earlier,  for  when  Jack  lifted  the  lid  he  had  already  gone  ! 
I  heaved  a  sigh  of  relief.  But  it  was  premature.  '  Wouldn't 
a  mouse  be  easier  to  harness  than  a  hundred  flies  ? ' 
'Well,  yes,  I  think  it  would.'  'Then  I'll  go  and  ask 
William  to  set  the  trap  in  the  stable  and  catch  me  one.' 

"  Many  days  passed.  Many  times  during  their  passing 
I  heard  the  enquiry,  '  Is  my  mouse  caught  yet  ?  '  I  began 
to  hope  the  stable  was  free  from  anything  smaller  than 
cats.  In  the  evening  our  talk  was  of  the  baker's  cart,  and 
of  the  speed  at  which  a  mouse  could  make  it  go ;  of  the 
danger  that  the  mouse,  when  harnessed,  might  turn  round 
in  the  shafts  and  eat  the  loaves  instead  of  helping  to  deliver 
them  ;   of  the   other  danger  of  his  being  eaten  himself 


THE  MOUSE  CAUGHT  85 

by  the  black  cat ;  or  of  his  bolting,  cart  and  all,  no  one 
knows  where,  to  save  his  life  !•»«■** 

' '  Suddenly,  one  afternoon,  we  were  startled  by  a  shout 
from  a  number  of  voices  in  different  high  keys,  ^Jack's 
mouse  is  caught  f  and  Jack  himself  was  rushing  to  and 
fro  in  a  state  of  wild  excitement,  with  a  tiny  cage  in  his 
hand,  in  which  the  future  motor  of  the  cart  crouched, 
frightened  at  his  surroundings.  The  vehicle  itself  was 
near,  ready,  with  nothing  in  the  shafts  ;  and  a  glance  on 
the  floor  showed  that 

*  There  lay  the  steed  with  his  nostril  all  wide, 

But  through  it  there  roUed  not  the  breath  of  his  pride.' 

In  fact  that  was  his  weak  point,  lack  of  life  ;  and  it  was 
this  which  suggested  his  being  replaced  by  a  creature  in 
which  the  mysterious  force  existed,  if  not  by  a  multitude 
aggregating  it. 

"  All  the  rest  of  the  day  *  my  mouse '  was  the  object  of 
lavish  attentions ;  and  when  I  last  saw  him  before  he 
retired  for  the  night,  he  had,  stacked  by  his  side,  as  much 
cheese  and  tallow-candle  ends  as  it  would  take  him  four 
days  to  eat.  '  Does  he  like  being  in  the  box  ? '  I  was 
asked.  *  Well— yes  ;  he's  comfortable  enough  there.' 
'  Would  he  as  soon  be  there  as  running  about  in  the  stable 
like  he  was  before?'  *  Well — no.  He  would  rather  be  able 
to  run  about.  Thou  might  be  happy  up  in  the  playroom ; 
but  if  someone  came  and  locked  the  door,  and  thou  could 
not  get  out  into  the  garden,  wouldst  thou  like  it  ? '  Jack 
looked  very  thoughtful,  but  only  said  *  No,  papa ! ' 

*'In  the  morning  he  brought  me  the  box,  stored  as  it 
had  been  overnight  with  cheese  and  ends  of  candle  ;  but 
no  occupant  was  in  it.  'Why,  Jack!  where's  the  mouse?' 
'  Oh,  I  thought  it  would  be  ra'r  cruel  to  keep  him  in  ;  so  I 
took  him  to  the  stable  and  let  him  go ! '  And  so  ended  the 
scheme  for  propelling  the  baker's  cart  by  vital  force  at 
first  hand." 


86  ON  A  FLOATING  SPAR 

From  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  Boston. 

Boston,  Oct.  31ST,  1891. 

*'My  dear  Mr  Bellows, 

"You  must  not  think  that  I  have  forgotten  you,  or  lost 
my  interest  in  your  delightful  letters,  because  you  have  not 
heard  from  me  for  a  good  while.  The  truth  is  writing  is 
becoming  more  and  more  troublesome  to  me  on  account  of 
the  state  of  my  eyes.  At  this  particular  moment  I  am 
writing  well  enough  as  you  see,  but  it  is  high  noon,  and  a 
bright  sky  is  diffusing  ample  light  through  my  bay  win- 
dow, the  *  airy  oriel '  of  one  of  my  poems,  '  My  Aviary. ' 
*  *  *  But  I  am  looking  forward  to  giving  up  writing 
any  answers  at  all,  and  I  find  dictated  letters  are  apt  to 
be  sparing  of  words. 

"  You  see  I  am  now  eighty- two  years  old — cannot  read 
at  all  with  my  left  eye,  and  poorly  enough  with  my  right 
one— so  that  I  give  up  a  great  part  of  my  newspaper  read- 
ing—the type  and  impression  being  commonly  poor.  I 
get  along,  however,  tolerably,  with  the  occasional  use  of 
a  hand-glass  in  addition  to  my  spectacles.  -^  -^  *  i  have 
my  old  asthmatic  trouble  to  remind  me  that  I  am  mortal, 
but  on  the  whole  am  quite  as  comfortable  as  such  a  super- 
fluity has  any  right  to  be. 

"But  oh,  how  lonely  the  world  is  getting  to  look! 
While  Lowell  was  living  I  felt  his  friendship  was  a  strong 
tie  to  my  past :  now  that  has  snapped,  and  Whittier  and  I 
are,  as  I  said  to  him  the  other  day,  on  a  spar  together, 
floating  still,  remnants  of  a  raft  which  has  gone  to  pieces. 
One  other  old  friend — old,  but  of  a  later  date,  about  thirty 
years — I  hope  to  meet  in  an  hour  from  now  at  my 
Saturday  Club,  the  only  social  circle  with  which  I  retain 
a  connection.  I  have  been  wanting  to  do  a  little  writing, 
but  my  correspondence  has  taken  up  so  much  time  that  I 
have  had  to  give  up  all  thoughts  of  writing  for  the  public 
at  present.  Yet  there  are  some  things  I  should  like  to 
say,  and  may  yet  get  a  chance  to  say.     I  have  been  much 


THE   FLOWING  TIDE  87 

encouraged  by  the  sale  and  reception  of  my  last  book, 
'  Over  the  Teacups.'  Tauchnitz  has  just  sent  me  some 
money  in  advance  for  an  edition  he  is  publishing,  so  that 
I  feel  quite  plq;^sed  in  the  contemplation  of  my  senile 
achievement. 

"  I  sent  you  a  poem  I  wrote  for  the  '  Atlantic  Monthly,* 
having  Lowell  as  its  subject.  I  went  to  see  him  at  Cam- 
bridge during  his  illness,  which  was  at  times  very  painful, 
and  must  have  tried  his  soul  very  severely.  He  had  so 
much  to  live  for — honored  and  beloved  at  home  and  abroad. 
He  was  fond  of  England,  and  England  was  fond  of  him. 
No  living  American  can  make  his  place  good,  and  to  his 
friends  the  loss  is  beyond  estimation. 

"Write  me  whenever  you  feel  like  it  without  waiting 
for  answers^  which  must  grow  fewer  and  shorter  as  the 
tide  of  old  age  flows  about  the  chair  of  the  octogenarian 
as  the  ocean  around  that  of  King  Canute. 

"  Always  faithfully  and  cordially  yours 

"O.  W.  Holmes. 

"  I  always  find  your  details  of  home-life,  especially  of 
the  younger  people  of  your  acquaintance,  the  best  of 
reading." 

To  Dv  Hiibnev,  Berlin. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  28-7-1891. 

"  Last  week  I  went  with  J.  Mowat,  of  Oxford,  to 
Kenchester,  the  site  usually  attributed  to  Magna  Castra. 
I  should  be  very  glad  to  go  there  with  thyself  if  thou 
shouldst  come  to  this  country  again ;  I  am  sure  it  would 
interest  thee. 

"We  drive  through  a  very  rich  and  beautiful  country 
for  about  six  miles  west  of  Hereford  city.  Here  we 
see  a  sort  of  table-land  elevated  a  score  of  metres 
above  the  general  level  of  the  great  valley  we  are  in — 
that  of  the  Wye,  which  is  some  two  miles  south  of  us. 
Behind  it  at  no  great  distance  are  hills  of  good  height : 


88 


KENCHESTER 


one,  wooded  to  the  summit,  and  the  nearest,  has  a  British 
camp  on  it. 

"  Turning  up  a  lane  to  our  right,  we  dismount,  and 
send  our  carriage  round  to  the  other  sidf  of  the  plateau 
while  we  strike  across  it  on  a  footpath.  Its  whole  area  I 
should  think  about  twenty  hectares.  When  I  say  it  may 
rise  twenty  metres,  I  mean  in  all — suddenly.    An  old 


man  is  hoeing  turnips  in  a  field  under  A.  He  tells  us 
that  coins  are  found  now  and  then  in  the  'Town'  field 
(b  and  c)  and  that  he  believes  his  wife  has  some  at  home, 
at  the  village  post  office  (e.)  Everywhere  as  we  stoop 
we  pick  up  bits  of  old  ware  of  the  coarser  kinds,  such  as 
always  occur  in  Roman  remains :  then  a  tessera,  and  so 
on.  B  is  a  field  of  wheat ;  and  the  crop  prevents  our 
seeing  much  of  the  ground  below.  In  dry  summers  the 
old  man  says  the  streets  show  up  through  the  corn.  (This 
was  so  distinctly  the  case  at  Silchester  that  the  Ordnance 
surveyors  were  able  to  map  the  entire  city ;  and  the 
insulce  so  revealed  are  now  being  taken  one  by  one  for 
excavation.) 

' '  Kenchester  is  certainly  a  town  of  exactly  the  same 
sort  as  Silchester  ;  that  is,  not  so  much  Roman  as  British 
occupied  by  Romans.  Roughly  speaking  both  cities  are 
hexagons.  Here  at  Kenchester  one  of  the  angles  is  well 
marked  at  F :  and  a  bit  of  the  wall  left.  It  may  be  seven 
or  eight  feet  high,  and  four  or  five  wide.  The  rest  of  the 
bank,  except  at  one  point,  is  earth :  the  stone  having,  I 
suspect,  been  taken  to  build  the  present  village,  which  is 
outside  the  area. 


ROMAN   COINS  89 

"Some  children  are  coming  back  from  school,  and  we 
ask  one  of  them,  '  What  is  this  field  called  ? '  '  The  Town 
Field,  sir.'  '  Why !  there's  no  town  here.  Where  are 
the  houses  ? '  '  All  pulled  down,  sir.  'Twas  the  Romans 
that  built  them.'  The  post  office  is  a  little  cottage  nearly- 
buried  in  foliage,  at  E.  We  open  a  rustic  gate  and  go 
along  a  tiny  path  made  of  bright  orange-red  bits  of  Roman 
tile  thrown  as  macadam  on  the  ground,  to  the  door,  where 
a  well-spoken  woman  answers  our  questions,  and  shows 
us  a  coin  of  Constantine.  She  has  had  a  lot  of  others,  but 
has  sold  them  to  a  confectioner  in  Hereford,  whose 
address  she  gives  us. 

"  We  drove  back  part  of  the  way  on  '  the  Roman  road,' 
but  it  is  rather  neglected  and  rough.  At  Hereford  we  saw 
the  coins,  obligingly  shown  us  by  the  confectioner:  too 
many  to  take  a  list  of  in  the  few  minutes  I  had  before 
going  to  my  train  to  Gloucester.  They  however  included 
denarii  of  several  Emperors  ;  and  copper  of  Allectus,  as 
well  as  models  of  two  British  coins  in  gold,  found  with 
them. 

"  Whether  Kenchester  is  Magna  is,  I  think,  somewhat 
uncertain.  The  distance  from  Abergavenny  (Gobannium) 
is  about  right ;  and  the  existence  of  Roman  roads  running 
directly  to  Kenchester  is  a  strong  point  in  its  favor.  On 
the  other  hand  it  is  not  on  the  river ;  nor  is  it  defended  by 
a  ditch  of  any  consequence.  Again,  for  troops  coming 
from  Chester  to  Gloucester  or  vice  versd^  it  is  out  of  the 
line — i.e.,  the  nearest  and  best  line^  of  march,  which  would 
be  through  Hereford.  Then  there  is  the  presumption  in 
favor  of  continuous  occupation  of  the  site  when  all  other 
things  are  about  equal. 

"The  ecclesiastical  administration  in  Gaul,  for  example, 
followed  the  Imperial  metropolis  everywhere  ;  and  as 
Caerleon,  from  being  the  headquarters  of  the  second 
legion,  became  the  see  of  an  archbishop —and  so  on — I 
cannot  help  a  surmise  that  if  Kenchester  had  been  Magna, 


90  ROMANS   IN   HEREFORDSHIRE 

we  should  now  find  the  bishop  taking  his  title,  and  the 
county  itself  named  after  Kenchester,  and  not  after 
Hereford.  I  am  not  asserting  this  :  but  suggesting  what 
I  think  needs  thinking  out? 

"  Another  point  is  that  there  is  no  bridge  over  the  Wye 
at  the  point  where  the  road  crosses  it  between  Kenchester 
and  Abergavenny.  I  have  not  yet  searched  for  remains 
of  one,  but  I  hope  sometime  to  do  so.  The  presence  or 
absence  of  a  stone  bridge  would  be  an  item  of  some 
weight  in  settling  the  problem.  We  were  told  by  the 
postmistress  that  we  could  drive  over  the  ford  on  the 
Wye,  but  time  did  not  admit  of  the  experiment.  As  the 
river  rises  in  flood  some  metres,  it  is  clear  that  a  ford 
would  not  have  sufficed  for  the  Roman  service.  There 
may  have  been  a  timber  bridge,  however." 

To  Harrison   Weir,  Sevenoaks. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  9-10-1891. 
ct  *  -x-  ^  As  to  cats,  I  have  always  been  fond  of  them 
from  a  boy,  when  we  had  several  generations  of  white 
Angoras.  They  were  wonderfully  affectionate  creatures. 
One  of  them  always  cHmbed  on  to  my  mother's  shoulder 
every  morning  as  she  came  down  to  breakfast,  and  greeted 
her  with  a  long  side-rub  against  her  right  cheek,  and  then 
one  on  her  left,  after  which  she  descended  to  the  usual 
quadrupedal  level.  She  was  a  very  conscientious  cat ;  and 
so  far  as  I  remember  one  might  leave  her  in  the  room  with 
untold  beef- steaks  without  her  touching  one.  This  so  far 
as  regarded  our  property.  What  was  in  other  houses  she 
regarded  as  fair  game  for  foraging  ;  for  I  saw  her  spring 
in,  one  day,  through  an  open  window  with  a  large  steak 
in  her  mouth.  But  all  her  descendants  were  not  so  scrup- 
ulous. I  came  down  one  morning  to  find  one  of  these 
lovely  white  cats  on  the  table  with  her  head  in  the  cream 
jug.  On  hearing  my  approach  I  suppose  she  pricked  up  her 
ears,  with  the  result  that  she  could  not  withdraw  herself 


LETTER  ON   CATS  91 

from  the  jug.  So  she  backed  to  the  edge  of  the  table 
and  dropped,  jug  and  all,  to  the  floor.  Here,  lifting  her 
head  despairingly  in  the  air,  a  stream  of  cream  ran  down 
her  chest,  and  then,  wildly  bumping  the  encumbrance  on 
the  carpet,  the  china  broke,  but  so  as  to  leave  the  rim  and 
handle  as  a  collar  round  her  neck  as  she  fled  from  the 
room  in  shame  and  confusion. 

"  The  daughter  or  granddaughter  of  our  first  white  cat 
used  to  follow  my  father  and  mother  for  a  mile  along  the 
road  when  they  were  walking  from  East  Pool  (Cornwall) 
to  Redruth.  This  dear  Pussy  met  with  a  hard  fate.  Our 
house  was  near  East  Pool  Mine,  and  the  white  cat  was 
seen  by  the  miners  killing  rats  there.  They  are  a  super- 
stitious set  of  men,  and  believed  the  killing  of  rats  was 
the  way  to  '  drive  away  luck '  from  a  mine.  And  so  they 
killed  our  cat. 

"We  children  brought  home  her  dead  body,  and  gave 
it  as  impressive  a  funeral  as  we  knew  how.  The  nearest 
thing  to  Westminster  Abbey  that  we  had  was  a  trellised 
simimer-house  in  a  corner  of  the  little  garden,  paved  with 
white  pebbles.  The  paving  was  taken  up,  and  a  grave 
dug  in  the  centre,  and  then  amid  many  tears  her  mortal 
remains  were  laid  to  rest.  The  western  sun  still  gilds  the 
spot  where  the  martyr  to  duty  has  her  last  home.  No 
pilgrim  marks  it ;  but  it  is  known  to  the  angels. 

"  After  I  left  Cornwall,  and  my  father  and  mother  lived 
at  Redruth,  a  descendant  of  Pussy's  died  there  a  natural 
death.  An  old  gentleman,  next  door,  who  knew  and 
respected  her,  dug  her  grave  in  the  garden,  and  there 
a  troop  of  neighbours'  children,  by  whom  she  was  beloved, 
and  in  whose  tiny  world  she  filled  no  mean  space,  stood 
round  her  tomb.  After  the  ceremony  was  over,  one  little 
girl  who  had  long  known  and  loved  her,  came  and  stood 
by  my  mother's  chair.  '  What  is  this  pink  ribbon  for,  my 
dear  ? '  '  O,  it's  mourning  for  Pussy.  Is  the  bell  going 
for  her  ? '     (It  happened  to  be  tolling.)     '  No,  my  dear,  I 


92  SIMPLE   TASKS 

don't  think  it  is.'  '  Is  she  gone  to  heaven?'  '  Well,  my 
dear,  I  don't  know  whether  cats  go  there  ;  but  if  they  do, 
I  am  sure  she  has,  for  she  was  as  good  as  any  cat  ever 
was  in  this  world.'  And  the  little  pink- ribboned  mourner 
went  away  comforted.  There  was  hope  for  Pussy's 
felis-ity." 

To  his  son   William,  in  Paris. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  31-1-92. 

a  *  ^  ^  jjjg  discouragement  to  all  of  us  in  this 
direction  is  the  feeling  of  powerlessness,  and  the  vague 
idea  that  besets  us,  that  if  only  some  of  our  circumstances 
were  different,  we  should  have  a  better  chance  of  serving 
God. 

"  But  this  is  all  a  mistake.  He  does  not  set  us  a  lot  of 
ideal  tasks,  the  attainment  of  which  would  make  us  some- 
thing extraordinary.  What  He  does  set  us  are  very  simple 
child's  tasks :  the  watching  over  our  own  thoughts :  the 
looking  upward  in  heart :  the  endeavour  to  do  common- 
place things  as  in  His  sight.  For  each  hour  of  each  day 
as  it  comes,  He  gives  the  necessary  ability  to  perform 
exactly  what  is  pleasing  to  Him  in  that  hour ;  and  that 
is  enough." 

The  following  letter  on  tithe  was  John  Bellows'  reply 
to  his  friend  Henry  T.  Evans— a  Quaker  magistrate  in 
Cardiganshire — who  had  sought  his  opinion  and  advice 
during  the  Welsh  anti-tithe  agitation. 

To  Henry  T.  Evans,  Aberayron,  Cardiganshire. 

Gloucester,  3-3-1892. 
"  To  thy  question,  '  What  would  one  of  the  primitive 
Friends  do  upon  receipt  of  a  document  similar  to  the 
enclosed  ? '  there  can  be  but  one  answer.  He  would  let 
the  law  take  its  course.  Only  the  law  was  so  much  more 
severe  two  hundred  years  ago  that  he  would  have  had  to 
look  forward  to  a  long  term  of  imprisonment,  or  even  to 
dying  in  prison,  for  the  non-payment  of  the  tithe. 


TITHE  93 

"  My  own  view,  which  is  likely  before  long  to  be  put 
to  the  test,  is,  that  under  no  circumstances  could  I  pay 
towards  the  support  of  a  salaried  minister  who  takes 
compulsory  remuneration.  But  even  if  I  could  go  so  far 
as  that,  I  could  not  and  I  would  not  contribute  in  any  way 
to  the  spread  of  doctrines  which  are  now  [taught]  in  the 
established  church. 

"  Some  argue  that  when  I  took,  or  bought,  my  land,  I 
did  so  with  the  knowledge  that  this  was  one  of  its  liabili- 
ties. True.  But  that  is  a  very  different  thing  from 
engaging  to  pay  the  tithe.  I  once  had  to  sign  a  document 
in  which  I  was  made  to  covenant  that  I  actually  would 
pay  it ;  but  I  took  the  pen  and  struck  out  the  whole  clause 
before  I  put  my  name  to  it.  If  the  land  had  been  liable 
to  a  tax  for  any  distinctly  immoral  purpose,  that  would 
be  no  reason  why  I  should  be  debarred  from  taking  it. 
It  would  be  a  reason  why  I  should  refuse  to  pay  [the  tax.] 

*'  The  law  must  in  all  cases  come  after ^  and  not  before, 
the  foundation  principles  of  right  and  wrong:  and  the 
perpetuation  of  old  and  superstitious  customs  is  a  wrong 
in  the  very  foundation  of  things.  Tithe,  in  the  infinite 
majority  of  cases,  was  put  on  to  support  a  ministry  that 
lived  upon  false  pretences  ;  and  they  obtained  it  by  false 
pretences,  such  as  that  their  prayers  could  ease  the 
punishment  of  sin  in  the  world  to  come,  and  the  like  lies. 

"It  is  the  silent  and  passive  resistance  that  sweeps 
down  evils  of  old  standing ;  not  rowdyism.  In  the  latter 
case  the  law  is  not  only  set  at  nought,  but  is  often  left 
unsatisfied ;  while  by  quietly  suffering  distraint,  it  is  as 
fully  satisfied  as  if  the  tithe  were  paid. 

"  As  for  posing  as  a  martyr,  there  is  not  much  scope 
for  that  where  the  martyrdom  does  not  extend  to  a  five 
pound  note  !  But  if  the  *  pose '  is  thrust  upon  me,  I  will 
accept  it,  rather  than  do  wrong  for  fear  of  seeming  to  be 
'  righteous  overmuch.' 


94        JAMES  ANTHONY  FROUDE 

"  A  large  part  of  our  liberties  in  the  way  of  worship, 
etc.,  is  due  to  the  quiet  courage  of  the  early  Friends. 
When  men  were  seen  willing  to  pass  long  years  in  a 
dungeon  rather  than  pay  a  few  pence  towards  the  main- 
tenance of  a  false  teaching,  the  light  streamed  fast  on  the 
masses,  and  the  power  of  the  false  teaching  was  shaken 
to  the  foundation. 

"  I  can't  set  up  for  being  a  pattern  to  other  men ;  but  so 
far  as  I  do  see,  I  will  not  hinder  other  men  from  coming 
to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth,  and  I  will  not  pay  tithe  to 
any  mortal  for  any  '  religious '  purpose. 

' '  The  mere  fact  of  the  refusal  will  tell  the  Welsh  people 
that  there  is  a  better  way  of  settling  this  question  than  by 
fighting  the  auctioneer.  If  any  considerable  number  of 
them  come  to  do  the  same,  and  passively  suffer,  down  the 
tithe  system  will  go  as  surely  as  the  walls  of  Jericho  went 
down  before  the  sound  of  the  rams'  horns ! 

"  Stand  firm,  and  thou  wilt  look  back  on  it  with 
satisfaction.  Give  way,  and  thou  mayst  come  to  see  it 
as  I  do,  but  thou  wilt  not  then  be  able  to  undo  thy  act." 

There  were  few  writers  whom  John  Bellows  held  in 
deeper  admiration  than  James  Anthony  Froude,  with 
whom  it  was  his  privilege,  at  times,  to  correspond  ;  and 
the  tribute  paid  to  the  value  of  his  work  by  his  appoint- 
ment to  the  Professorship  of  Modern  History  at  Oxford, 
gave  John  Bellows  the  deepest  satisfaction. 

To  James  Anthony  Froude. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  7-4-1892. 

*'Dear  Friend, 

*'  I  cannot  let  this  occasion  go  by  without  a  line  to  say 
how  heartily  glad  I  am  at  thy  appointment  at  Oxford.  It 
is  a  gladness  that  will  be  shared  by  many  hearts  to  whom 
truth  is  dearer  than  shams ;  for  thy  nomination  means 
something  more  than  the  honour  to  the  man,  deserved  as 
that  is :  it  is  the  acknowledgment  that  thy  history  is  a  true 


FAITHFUL  STEWARDSHIP  95 

and  faithful  record  of  the  times  it  deals  with,  and  not  what 
the  Jesuits  would  have  the  world  believe  it  is. 

^ '  I  know  no  happier  thought  in  life  than  the  conscious- 
ness that  we  are  but  stewards  of  the  several  positions  we 
hold ;  entrusted,  not  so  much  with  gifts  and  talents  that 
men  deem  of  value,  as  with  trials  and  disappointments  and 
uncertainties  that  give  ample  opportunity  for  us  to  build 
up  our  own  character,  not  by  doing  wonders,  but  by 
patiently  doing  what  we  can  as  in  God's  sight. 

"  Thou  hast  had  a  full  share  of  misunderstanding  and  of 
misrepresentation  to  bear:  the  disillusionment  of  legitimate 
hopes  of  present  success  in  some  points,  but  not  their  final 
defeat.  It  is  not  going  too  far  to  say  that  this  is  the  lot  of 
every  man  who  tries  to  deal  honestly  with  the  task  he 
undertakes  ;  and  it  is  the  passing  through  this  that  gradu- 
ally changes  him  from  being  but  poor  iron  into  tough 
steel :  or,  in  the  better  simile  of  the  Bible,  these  are  the 
means  by  which  the  Almighty  works  when  He  says,  '  I 
will  make  a  man  more  precious  than  fine  gold'— surely 
His  ultimate  design  for  every  man. 

"  I  hope  thou  may  St  live  many  years  to  hold  this  post, 
and  so  hold  it  that  a  very  broad  circle  will  say  at  last, 
'  We  are  stronger  and  truer  men  for  his  teaching,'  as  I 
believe  can  in  some  small  measure  be  said  by 

"Thy  friend,  John  Bellows." 

The  following  letter  is  undated,  but  as  reference  is  made 
in  it  to  the  death  of  Whittier,  which  event  occurred  on 
September  7,  1892,  it  must  have  been  written  shortly 
after  that  date. 

To  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes^  Boston^  Mass. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester. 
"  I  have  long  had  a  letter  half- written  to  thee,  which 
press  of  business  forced  me  to  lay  aside  till  I  had  in 
measure  passed  out  of  the  mood  in  which  it  started. 
Yesterday's  '  Times '  roused  me,  however,  with  its  an- 
nouncement that  the  last  of  the  old  New  England  literary 


96  SHERSTON 

circle,  except  thyself,  had  passed  away :  that  Whittier 
had  followed  Lowell,  and  left  but  one  solitary  lamp  burn- 
ing in  the  hall,  where,  but  awhile  ago,  many  shone  bright. 
"  I  recollect  the  account  thou  gave  me  once,  of  an 
afternoon  thou  spent  with  him  at  his  house  at  Amesbury, 
and  how  cheerful  he  was  notwithstanding  his  years — not- 
withstanding that,  in  the  language  of  one  with  whom  he 
must  have  been  familar  as  an  earlier  '  Quaker  Poet ' :  — 

'  The  moment  was  drawing  nigh 
When  by  every  fearful  token 
The  silver  cord  must  loosen  its  tie, 
And  the  golden  bowl  be  broken.' 

I  say  '  notwithstanding ' :  but  it  strikes  me  after  all  as  a 
wrong  word,  for  I  see  many  examples  of  similar  cheerful 
old  age.  In  the  right  ordering  of  things  it  should  often  be 
so ;  that  is,  when  the  day's  work  has  kept  pace  with  the  day ; 
for  in  such  a  case  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day  is  gone 
by,  and  there  is  a  foretaste  of  the  rest  that  is  to  follow. 
Anxiety  for  the  future  is  the  great  factor  in  depression 
of  spirits ;  and  Whittier,  I  take  it,  had  for  a  long  while 
been  much  freed  from  this  ? 

*'  I  hope  in  a  short  time  to  send  thee  two  or  three  photo- 
graphs my  son  Max  has  taken  this  week,  but  which  he  has 
not  yet  had  time  to  develop.  They  are  views  of  a  quiet 
old  village  in  Wiltshire,  called  Sherston.  The  place  was 
not  always  so  quiet,  however,  for  it  played  a  conspicuous 
part  in  the  final  struggle  between  the  Britons  and  the 
Saxons,  in  this  part  of  the  country.  It  was  then  known 
as  Tref  wen  or  the  White  town,  and  is  so  spoken  of  in  the 
Bard's  lamentation,  where  he  describes  the  death  of  a 
Celtic  kiijg  Kandelann,  in  the  battle  of  Dyrham  in  577. 
Dyrham  is  a  point  on  the  prominent  escarpment  of  the 
Cotteswold  Hills,  ten  miles  west  of  Sherston  ;  and  the  fate 
of  that  day,  according  to  the  Saxon  Chronicle,  brought  the 
cities  '  ^«^/?anceaster  and  Cirencester  andGleawancester' 
under  the  rule  of  the  West  Saxons. 


VISIT  TO   PARIS  97 

'*  A  couple  of  miles  east  [of  Sherston]  the  great  Roman 
Fossway  crosses  the  Avon  at  a  spot  still  known  as  White- 
walls,  and  marked  in  the  ordnance  map  as  '  ancient 
station.'  This  Fossway  having  been  made  after  the  towns, 
and  for  the  use  of  the  army  only,  misses  many  of  the 
towns  and  villages,  such  as  Tetbury,  Malmesbury,  etc., 
and  goes  straight  as  a  line  on  to  the  horizon,  on  its  way 
to  Lincoln.  The  paving  is  still  visible  in  many  parts  of  it. 
Close  to  the  little  river  Avon  it  becomes  merged  in  a 
pasture  field,  dotted  over  with  trees.  I  found  the  bridge 
13  ft.  8  ins.  in  breadth  of  roadway — i.e.,  14  Roman  feet — 
for  a  foot  rule  in  these  matters  is  a  magician's  wand 
in  what  it  reveals  !  We  noticed  several  circular  marks 
in  the  grass  as  if  buildings  had  stood  there  ;  and  digging  a 
little,  we  found  Roman  pottery.  In  one  of  the  circles 
a  mole  had  been  at  work.  I  sifted  over  his  mound  of 
freshly  raised  earth.  It  was  black  with  former  occupa- 
tion, and  in  it  I  found  a  sparkling  little  bit  of  Samian 
ware  !  It  was  only  as  large  as  one's  finger  tip,  but  it  was 
enough  to  carry  one  back  safely,  in  a  moment,  to  over 
fifteen  hundred  years  of  time,  to  the  hour  when  the  officer 
was  taking  his  lunch,  while  the  horses  were  changing. 
Tom,  Dick  and  Harry  did  not  use  Samian !  " 

To  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  Boston,  Mass. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  10-10-1892. 
"  I  was  very  glad  to  get  thy  kind  letter  of  the  25th 
ult.,  although  I  did  not  expect  to  get  one  in  thy  own 
handwriting!  I  now  enclose  the  little  photographs  my 
son  took  at  Sherston,  and  to  which  references  are  made  in 
my  last.  .  .  My  wife  and  I  returned  last  week  from  a 
flying  visit  to  our  second  son  in  Paris,  where  he  is  for 
a  while,  the  better  to  acquire  the  language.  As  they 
happened  to  be  full  at  his  own  lodgings,  he  procured 
us  quarters  in  the  rue  de  la  Sorbonne,  where  we  were  in 
the  shadow  of  the  great  building  that  links  Paris  of  to-day 
G 


98      CENTENARY  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 

with  so  many  of  her  glories  in  the  past.  It  has  recently 
received  large  additions,  so  that  its  long  and  stately  lines 
of  windows  make  the  perspective  of  the  entire  street. 
The  new  front  in  the  rue  des  Ecoles  is  next  to  the  College 
de  France.  Our  boy  lodges  au  quatrieme  opposite  the 
latter ;  and  yesterday  week  we  were  sitting  in  his  window 
looking  at  the  rooms  where  Renan  lay  dead— for  he  died 
that  very  morning.  A  letter  from  [our  son]  this  morning 
tells  us  of  the  spectacle  presented  by  the  funeral. 

' '  I  don't  know  more  than  a  very  little  of  Renan,  but  from 
the  little  I  have  read  of  his  writing  in  the  Revue  des  Deux 
Mondes,  I  think  I  know  no  one  with  whose  views  I  have 
so  little  in  common,  and  yet  with  whom,  somehow,  I  feel 
more  fully  in  sympathy.  But  then,  if  we  knew  all  men 
thoroughly,  I  suspect  we  should  profoundly  sympathize, 
if  not  with  all,  yet  with  the  infinite  majority !  To  share 
their  cares  and  their  tears  would  amount  to  a  very  close 
kinship :  the  kinship  I  am  certain  the  Father  of  All  in- 
tended to  subsist  between  the  children  of  men. 

"  Ten  days  before  the  death  of  Renan  was  the  grande 
fBte  nationale  in  commemoration  of  the  French  Revolution : 
its  centenary  from  the  'battle  of  Valmy.'  A  little  before 
ten  [our  son]  came  to  fetch  us  to  see  the  President  and  his 
Cabinet  Ministers,  the  Senators,  Deputies,  Judges,  and 
other  officials  pass  to  the  Pantheon.  Crossing  the  street, 
we  first  went  into  the  Grande  Cour  of  the  Sorbonne :  its 
older  part.  Late  as  it  is  in  the  year,  it  was  a  sunny  day 
of  Indian  summer,  and  many  windows  that  '  gave '  into 
the  quadrangle  stood  open.  In  them  were  sitting  Doctors 
and  Professors,  silk  robed  and  high  capped,  in  many- 
fashioned  dresses,  yellow  and  violet  scarves  mingling 
with  the  prevailing  black.  All  was  silent,  and  nearly 
motionless ;  a  dream  of  the  middle  ages  up  yonder,  look- 
ing down  on  the  long  line  of  carriages  of  to-day,  waiting 
to  convey  the  learned  men  to  their  appointed  places  in  the 
[procession  to  the  Pantheon.] 


HISTORICAL  PROCESSION  99 

'■'•Silent:  there  are  no  bells  in  this  gay  Paris  to  ring 
in  the  hundred-year  holiday  of  her  revolution.  Belgium 
would  have  filled  the  air  with  campanulation.  Treves 
would  have  filled  it  with  sounds  the  middle  ages  had 
brought  down  from  the  Roman  Empire.  Yet  here  was 
the  Palace  of  Julian  itself  at  the  foot  of  the  street  (now  the 
Hotel  Cluny)  but  no  sound  of  bells  from  it  or  from  any 
other  building  in  Paris !  It  was  the  strangest  thing  that 
struck  one.  Just  the  gentle  melancholy  chime  of  the 
Sorbonne  clock :  one  silver  bell  and  one  bronze,  to  judge 
by  their  tones,  to  warn  us  that  it  is  ten,  and  that  the 
cortege  is  due  on  the  boulevard  close  by.  And  there  we 
stand  in  that  vast  sea  of  hundreds  of  thousands,  looking 
up  at  the  lacework  of  golden  leaves  that  half  veils  the 
shining  blue  above.  A  pattering  of  horses'  feet,  and  a 
company  of  cavalry :  another :  a  line  of  carriages,  and 
again  a  lull  like  the  hush  after  the  surf  has  broken  on  the 
sands.  Soon  there  is  a  renewal  of  the  same  sound  at  a 
distance — slowly  gathering  volume  until  it  is  like  the 
sweep  of  a  great  waterfall,  and  a  dazzle  of  swords 
emerges  from  the  vista  of  trees  into  the  bright  sunshine 
before  us  ;  lines  of  mounted  guards  flash  past ;  and  in 
the  midst  of  a  great  square  they  surround  the  President  in 
his  carriage,  and  the  white-headed  Minister  of  War  by 
his  side.  A  subdued  murmur  of  pleasure  as  they  go  by, 
and  again  the  wave  subsides  ;  and  so  on,  yet  again. 

[In  the  historical  procession  that  passed  through  the 
streets  of  Paris  in  the  afternoon]  ' '  hundreds  of  men  and 
women  were  dressed  in  the  costumes  of  1792.  Green 
and  crimson  and  blue  were  there  in  abundance  :  Dantons 
and  Mirabeaus  and  Robespierres  a  revendre :  but  unreal ! 
With  all  this  I  was  compelled  to  notice  that  there  was 
no  enthusiasm.  The  thing  bore  no  semblance  in  any 
way  to  the  thing  it  was  meant  to  celebrate ;  for  the 
misdeeds  that  served  as  fuel  to  that  fire  are  burnt  to 
incombustibility ./" 

G2 


CHAPTER  VI. 

JOSEPH  NEAVE-JOURNEY  TO  RUSSIA-MINDEN-ST.  PETERSBURG. 

IT  IS  well  known  that  the  Society  of  Friends  has, 
from  the  beginning  of  its  existence,  held  that  no 
religious  service  should  be  undertaken  except  in  obedience 
to  an  inward  prompting,  believed  to  be  from  above  ;  and 
it  is  thought  right,  also,  before  proceeding  on  any  exten- 
sive journey  in  such  service,  that  the  Friend  who  feels 
this  prompting  should  lay  his  '  concern '  before  his  fellow 
members,  in  order  that  the  matter  may  be  fully  and 
carefully  weighed,  and  encouraged  or  discouraged  as 
the  case  may  be.  If  the  Meeting  before  which  this  matter 
is  brought  believes  the  call  to  be  a  true  one,  it  furnishes 
the  Friend  with  a  certificate  of  approval  and  unity,  and,  if 
necessary,  with  funds  for  the  expenses  of  his  journey. 

In  1 89 1,  Joseph  James  Neave,  a  Friend  residing  in 
Australia,  but  who  was  still  connected  by  membership 
with  a  Friends'  Meeting  in  England,  and  under  its  jurisdic- 
tion, had  felt  a  '  concern '  to  visit  Russia  on  behalf  of  the 
Stundists,  at  that  time  suffering  persecution  on  account 
of  their  dissent  from  the  Greek  Church.  The  Friends 
in  England  to  whom  Joseph  Neave  communicated  his 
'  concern '  advised  delay  ;  but  when,  a  year  later,  in  the 
spring  of  1892,  he  was  able  to  attend  the  Yearly  Meeting 
of  the  Society  in  London,  and  renew  his  appeal  in  person, 
it  met  with  full  sympathy  and  approval ;  and  a  committee 
was  appointed  to  make  the  necessary  arrangements. 

There  is  a  tacit  rule  in  the  Society  that  a  ministering 
Friend  travelling  on  such  an  errand  shall  have  a  com- 
panion.  Joseph  Neave,  however,  feeling  great  uncertainty 


RUSSIA  IN  PROSPECT  loi 

as  to  the  extent  and  duration  of  his  journey,  was  reluctant 
to  burden  anyone  else  with  a  share  in  it,  and  was  prepared 
to  go  to  Russia  alone.  His  journey  was  fixed,  so  far  as 
any  human  arrangement  can  be  said  to  be  fixed^  in  the 
early  summer  of  1892,  but  it  was  not  to  be  taken  until  the 
following  autumn.  In  the  meantime  a  companion  was 
found  for  him  in  an  unexpected  quarter. 

A  member  of  the  committee  arranging  for  this  journey, 
writing  to  John  Bellows  on  other  matters,  casually  men- 
tioned Joseph  Neave's  prospect,  when  John  Bellows  was 
suddenly  and  vividly  impressed  with  a  sense  that  he  must 
be  willing  to  share  with  Joseph  Neave  the  hardships  and 
responsibilities  of  the  journey.  There  was,  however,  one 
difficulty  which  might  have  been  expected  to  hinder  the 
Society  from  accepting  any  such  offer  from  him.  Nine 
years  previously,  feeling  that  the  Society  of  Friends  was 
in  some  respects  drifting  away  from  what  he  considered 
the  right  standard,  and  acting  under  the  pressure  of  much 
mental  disquiet,  he  had  resigned  his  membership  in  it.  In 
spite,  however,  of  this  technical  disqualification,  the  com- 
mittee at  once  and  unanimously  recognized  his  fitness  for 
the  delicate  mission  in  prospect,  and  he  was  cordially 
accepted  as  companion  to  Joseph  Neave,  with  whom  he 
now  came  into  the  closest  and  most  harmonious  fellowship. 

It  will  not  be  supposed  that  one  whose  mental  constitu- 
tion was  so  sensitive  and  delicate  could  pass  through  the 
preparation  for  this  work  without  great  suffering.  The 
prospect  of  a  separation  of  indefinite  duration  from  his 
home,  and  all  that  that  meant  to  him,  on  so  vague  and 
mysterious  an  errand,  which  might  include  a  visit  to 
Siberia,  and  did  in  fact  include  one  to  the  Trans- Caucasus, 
was  very  trying  to  his  affectionate  nature ;  but  in  the  very 
suffering  this  prospect  involved,  he  recognized  a  pre- 
paration for  the  work  before  him. 

From  his  letters  to  his  wife,  especially,  as  they  are  the 
most  numerous,  a  fairly  full  narrative  may  be  gathered  of 


102  INTIMATION  OF  DUTY 

his  experiences  during  this  journey,  which  lasted  six 
months ;  but  for  reasons  which  will  be  understood,  all 
references  to  interviews  with  oflficials,  on  the  business  in 
which  Joseph  Neave  and  he  were  engaged,  are  omitted, 
as  well  as  many  interesting  records  of  their  intimate  inter- 
course with  others.  Although  the  two  Friends  did  not 
effect  all  that  they  hoped  for,  they  had  the  consolation  df 
knowing  that  their  labours  had  not  been  altogether  in  vain. 
Soon  after  his  return  to  England,  John  Bellows  applied 
for  re-instatement  in  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  was 
cordially  received  again  into  membership. 

To  Joseph  James  Neave. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  9-9-92. 

*'  When  Edwin  R.  Ransome  mentioned,  in  a  letter  I  had 
from  him,  thy  prospect  of  going  to  Russia,  a  weight  came 
over  my  mind,  with  a  sense  that  it  might  be  required  of 
me  to  offer  to  go  with  thee  :  and  a  query  whether,  if  it 
should  be  so  required,  I  would  be  willing  to  obey,  or 
whether  I  should  seek  to  put  it  by  as  a  hard  thing. 

"Keeping  still,  in  mind,  and  looking  up  for  preservation 
from  any  wrong  attitude  of  mind,  I  was  favoured,  though 
with  a  good  deal  of  baptism,  to  remain  passive.  This  has 
recurred  several  times.  On  the  other  hand  I  have  looked 
at  what  seemed  the  dashing  of  a  hope  ;  a  hope  that,  shall 
I  say,  has  beset  me  for  some  months  past  in  an  unusual 
degree,  of  more  rest  from  my  busy  cares,  and  of  lessened 
anxiety. 

"  On  the  other  hand  I  could  not  but  feel  that  as  all  that 
I  have  or  that  I  am,  in  this  sense,  has  been  given  me,  it 
would  be  a  poor  acknowledgment  of  all  the  blessings 
that  have  been  so  freely  bestowed  on  me,  to  turn  away 
from  the  secret  drawing  of  the  love  of  God  at  the  first  hint 
to  lay  down  their  enjoyment  for  a  time,  and  plead  these 
very  favours  as  a  reason  for  refusing  to  resign  them.  I 
could  not  do  so. 


WILLINGNESS  TO   GO  103 

"  The  Enemy  has  not  failed  to  set  both  these  conditions 
before  me  in  an  exaggerated  form,  and  to  ply  me  hard  with 
the  contrast  between  the  '  cieled  house '  and  home,  and 
the  far  off  land  with  its  coming  winter :  the  hardship,  and 
the  vague  imcertainty  of  duration  of  the  trial.  But  sinking 
into  a  measure  of  silent  dying  to  self,  all  this  has  been 
overcome  from  time  to  time,  and  I  have  felt  willing, 
against  my  will,  to  be  led  by  the  still  small  voice,  and  the 
glance,  so  to  say,  of  the  Divine  Eye,  in  the  direction 
indicated. 

"  I  have  of  course,  after  due  reflection,  put  the  matter 
to  my  dear  wife  ;  knowing  how  truly  she  would  deal  with 
it,  and  that  if  it  proved  a  right,  or  rather  the  right  thing, 
she  too  would  be  helped  to  a  willingness  in  reference  to 
it ;  trial  as  it  necessarily  is  to  her.  It  is  with  her  con- 
currence that  I  write. 

"  How  I  can  be  of  any  help  to  thee  beyond  a  very  simple 
companionship  is  certainly  not  apparent  to  me  ;  yet  if  thou 
art  clear  that  it  would  be  right  to  accept  my  company,  and 
if  Friends  also  are  fully  of  the  mind  that  it  would  be 
suitable,  I  feel  I  am  on  solid  ground  in  offering  to  go. 

"  If  the  way  should  not  open,  I  shall  feel  still  that  I  have 
abundant  reason  for  thankfulness  at  having  been  led  into 
and  through  these  baptisms  ;  '  in  all  these  things  is  the  life 
of  my  spirit ' — and  they  leave  solid  fruit  behind." 

The  Committee,  then,  having  cordially  accepted  the 
companionship  of  John  Bellows  for  Joseph  Neave,  the  two 
left  for  Russia  on  October  12,  1892.  On  their  way  they 
rested  at  Cologne  for  a  few  hours,  and  spent  a  day  or  two 
at  Minden,  where  the  only  Meeting  of  the  Society  of 
Friends  in  Germany  is  held. 

To  his  son  Max. 

Cologne,  14-10-92. 

"  We  have  had  time  for  a  short  walk  and  an  ascent  of 
the  tower  with  the  wonderful  view  of  the  Rhine  coimtry 


104  FRIENDS  AT  MINDEN 

from  it.  We  also  got  a  walk  round  the  triforium  and  a 
full  view  of  the  interior  of  the  Cathedral.  At  the  end  we 
look  from  a  height  of  90  ft.  all  along  the  nave,  which  is 
450  ft.  long.  Here  the  guide  told  us  we  must  take  off  our 
hats— but  we  did  not ;  and  I  want  thee  to  drop  a  line  in 
German  to  the  custodian  of  the  towers,  Koln  Cathedral, 
telling  him  that  thy  father  was  one  of  the  Englishmen  who 
went  up  on  the  14th,  and  that  he  wished  thee  to  explain 
why  his  friend  and  he  did  not  uncover :  i.e.  because  we 
are  the  true  temples  of  God  (quote  the  text  of  the  Apostle 
Paul)  and  to  give  honour  to  buildings  made  with  men's 
hands  is  to  draw  away  attention  from  this  most  vital  point. 
Taking  off  a  hat  in  a  building  is  no  honour  to  that  Spirit 
who  dwelleth  not  in  temples  made  with  hands,  but  to  seek 
to  know  Him  and  to  do  His  will  is  the  worship  or  honour 
which  He  calls  for  at  the  hands  of  every  one  of  us." 

To  his  Wife. 

MiNDEN,  Germany,  15-10-92. 

"  The  Friends  here  are  delighted  to  shew  us  kindness 
and  to  make  us  feel  at  home,  though  I  can  see  that  Louis 
Rasche  is  making  a  sacrifice  at  a  time  of  considerable 
business  anxiety  in  leaving  the  whole  of  his  correspondence 
to  his  clerk  and  his  own  Max.    *    *    "^ 

"For  twelve  years  Louis  Rasche  served  as  a  'peace 
judge '  here.  This  means  an  arbitration  magistrate  whose 
duty  it  is  to  endeavour  to  compose  differences  between 
people  without  going  to  law.  There  are  three  of  these  in 
Minden,  and  some  in  every  town  in  Germany.  No  law- 
court  will  hear  a  case'^ntil  it  has  been  before  one  of  these 
peace-makers,  and  he  has  failed  to  bring  about  a  com- 
promise. 

First-day. 

"  Sunnier  than  the  sunshine  of  this  beautiful  morning, 
that  has  taken  the  place  of  yesterday's  rain,  is  thy  letter 
that  has  just  been  handed  me !  I  must  stop  to  read  it  as 
soon  as  I  have  put  into  the  envelope  the  violets  that  little 


MEETING  AT  MINDEN  105 

Wilhelm  has  just  put  into  my  hand,  his  little  face  beaming 
with  smiles. 

"  Noon.  We  have  just  come  back  from  Meeting. 
Nearly  forty  sat  down,  as  several  had  come  in  from  the 
country  who  are  too  far  off  (  9  miles  )  to  attend  regularly 
here.  It  was  a  sweet  and  solemn  time.  At  the  close  of 
the  meeting  many  hard  clasps  of  the  hand  were  given  us, 
with  looks  that  made  up  for  lack  of  words.  -^    *    * 

"  In  the  afternoon  the  country  Friends  stayed  in  to  meet 
us  again  at  3  o'clock,  and  we  had  another  favoured  time. 
There  is  something  very  interesting  and  touching  in  the 
interpreter  giving  sentence  by  sentence  in  the  foreign 
tongue  and  vice  versa.  J.  J.  Neave  prayed  very  earnestly 
for  the  little  company,  and  when  he  had  done,  or  a  few 
moments  after,  I  touched  David  Peitsmeyer  and  whispered 
to  him  to  give  the  Friends  the  substance  of  what  had  been 
said,  as  it  is  not  usual  to  give  sentence  by  sentence  as 
they  do  when  preaching.  He  did  so  very  accurately  and 
nicely.  Louis  Rasche,  who  is  a  true  minister,  also  prayed 
for  us,  and  as  J.  J.  Neave  had  done,  for  the  people  of  God 
in  Russia  who  had  suffered  persecution,  some  to  the  loss 
of  all  things ;  that  '  dunkles  Land,'  as  he  expressed  it. 
After  Meeting  we  walked,  Louis  Rasche,  J.  J.  Neave  and 
I,  to  the  Weser  bank.  It  was  between  4  and  5  in  the 
afternoon.  The  wide  shining  stream,  looking  westward, 
was  one  sheet  of  silver.  A  few  miles  away  it  passed 
between  two  steep  wooded  cliffs,  the  '  Porta  Westphalica,* 
and  a  serrated  line  of  mountains  died  away  from  this  point 
southward.  Behind  us  was  Minden,  from  one  of  the 
towers  of  which  boomed  a  bell  very  similar  in  tone  to 
that  [we  heard]  in  Treves  for  the  death  of  the  Emperor 
Friedrich.  Few  things  to  me  bring  more  forcibly  home 
the  feeling  of  being  in  a  strange  land  than  the  sound  of 
unaccustomed  bells,  and  I  should  have  felt  greatly  cast 
down  but  for  the  sense  of  the  Divine  love  and  goodness  of 
which   we   had   so   largely  partaken   in    our  gathering 


io6  KONIGSBERG 

together,  and  which  lifted  the  heart  above  sorrow  and 
time  and  distance. 

"As  we  turned  homeward  through  the  avenues  of  trees 
on  the  glacis  of  the  former  fortifications,  we  came  out  on 
the  sweetest  cemetery  I  had  ever  seen,  garden  and  wood- 
land mingled  with  quiet  stonework,  and  none  of  those 
artificialities  that  strike  one  so  painfully  in  many  burial 
grounds  in  England  and  France. 

"  Louis  Rasche  told  us  that  once  in  going  through  this 
ground  when  he  was  a  young  man,  the  thought  pressed 
on  his  mind,  '  How  many  who  are  lying  here  would  wish, 
if  it  were  possible,  to  undo  some  of  the  acts  done  in  their 
lives ! '  And  the  prayer  rose  in  his  heart  to  be  kept  from 
anything  he  would  not  like  to  look  back  upon  when  his 
turn  came  to  die.  But  he  added,  '  The  spirit  is  willing,  but 
the  flesh  is  weak.' " 

To  his   Wife. 
Hotel  de  Prusse,  Konigsberg,  18-10-92. 

"We  have  both  got  on  thus  far  excellently;  and  we 
feel  no  misgiving  as  to  the  unknown  future.  Had  I  come 
here  to  please  myself,  it  would  have  been  with  far  other 
feelings  that  I  have  seen  one  great  European  river  after 
another  placed  between  me  and  all  that  I  hold  dear  in  this 
world.  This  afternoon  it  was  the  broad  silvery  stream  of 
one  of  the  affluents  of  the  Oder ;  and  later  on  it  was  the 
wider  Vistula  reflecting  the  magnificence  of  the  sunset : 
miles  of  the  crimson  and  gold  that  had  been  filling  the 
western  horizon  on  this  almost  boundless  plain.  No  poem 
that  ever  was  written— no  painting  that  ever  was  painted— 
could  more  than  faintly  recall  the  vastness  and  the  beauty 
and  the  mysteriousness  of  the  whole  scene  ;  nothing  could 
fitly  close  it  but  the  darkness  and  silence  of  the  northern 
autumn  night,  giving  place  in  its  turn  to  the  lamps  of  this 
old-world  city,  shimmering  on  its  canals,  and  reflecting  in 
them  the  many-storied  gabled  houses,  and  the  masts  of 
its  shipping. 


ARRIVAL  AT   ST.  PETERSBURG  107 

"  Were  it  not  for  to-morrow's  journey,  I  could  sit  for 
hours  at  this  bedroom  window,  watching  the  fisherman's 
boat  below.  We  saw  him  haul  in  his  net  awhile  ago,  and 
the  flash  of  the  fish  among  the  endless  scintillations  around 
them.  Behind  us,  still  in  the  town,  a  great  mediaeval 
castle  towers  up  into  the  night.  Even  the  electric  light 
does  not  touch  the  battlements  up  yonder,  but  leaves 
them  vague  and  shadowy,  as  they  ought  to  be.  It  is 
midnight,  and  everything  has  sunk  into  silence ;  though 
a  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  souls  are  gathered  around 
us.  The  Baltic  Sea  itself  is  four  miles  off;  too  far  for  the 
sound  of  its  waves  to  reach  us. 

"There  comes  a  dull  roar!  It  is  the  midnight  mail 
from  Russia,  going  west.  I  will  lie  down  on  my  pillow 
and  be  there  before  it— till  to-morrow  comes !  " 

To  his   Wife. 
H6tel  d'Angleterre,  Petersburg,  21-10-92. 

"Here  at  last  we  are  landed  after  a  journey  with  nothing 
disagreeable  or  lacking  in  comfort  from  beginning  to  end. 

"I  woke  in  daylight,  the  sun  was  shining  brilliantly  on 
a  forest  of  birches  among  which  here  and  there  was  a 
Scotch  fir  or  two.  White  frost  was  on  the  grass  and 
buildings  where  there  were  any,  for  they  were  scarce  as 
yet,  and  thin  ice  covered  the  pools  that  had  not  disap- 
peared from  the  last  rain.     *    *    * 

"  Running  into  the  station  we  got  the  guard  to  look  us 
out  a  porter.  For  more  than  a  mile  we  drove  in  a  straight 
line  along  the  cobbled  but  exceedingly  wide  road  to  the 
Square  of  Isaac's  Cathedral.  *  *  *  Our  hotel  fills  a 
large  block  on  one  side  the  Square,  27  windows  long." 

To  his   Wife. 

Petersburg,  26-10-92. 

"  We  have   a  very  weighty  duty  to  attend  to  in  the 

morning  :  of  that  we  are  indeed  sensible  ;  yet  neither  J.  N. 

nor  myself  have  felt  at  liberty  to  prepare  one   word 


io8  DIVINE   GUIDANCE 

of  what  has  to  be  said,  or  even  to  form  an  outline  of  the 
course  we  ought  to  take.  If  this  is  trying  to  our  faith,  we 
have  yet  not  only  the  solid  sense  of  support  that  is  granted 
us  in  the  prospect,  but  the  experience  of  the  wonderful 
help  that  has  been  granted  us  in  every  step  taken  hitherto." 

To  his  Wife. 

Petersburg,  i 3-1 1-92. 

"  It  is  beginning  to  shape  itself  to  us  that  as  soon  as  we 
are  free  of  Petersburg  we  ought  to  go  to  the  Trans- 
Caucasus."     *    *    * 

To  his   Wife. 

Petersburg,  18-11-92. 

"  I  wish to  have  this  message  from  me— that  in 

all  this  service  we  have  been  obliged  to  walk  entirely  by 
the  inner  leading  of  the  Spirit,  in  which  she  but  very  dimly 
believes.  In  no  case  have  we  entered  the  presence  of 
any  of  the  officials  we  have  seen  with  any  preparation  as 
to  what  we  were  to  say,  and  in  each  case  has  the  Master 
literally  fulfilled  His  own  promise  in  Matthew  x.  18,  19. 
'  Who  is  blind  as  the  Lord's  servant  ? '  is  the  true  watch- 
word in  such  service  as  this,  and  '  Be  not  afraid  of  their 
faces  lest  I  confound  thee  before  them.'  And  so  marvel- 
lous are  the  entanglements  through  which  we  have  to  move, 
that  the  wisest  and  cleverest  and  best  man  going  partly 
by  Divine  guidance  and  partly  stepping  before  it  by  his 
own  judgment,  must  and  would  have  failed  utterly.  It  is 
not  man's  work  at  all.  If  a  soldier  loaded  an  Armstrong 
gun  and  put  everything  so  ready  that  pulling  a  thread 
would  fire  it,  he  might  order  a  little  child  to  pull  that 
thread  and  the  work  would  be  done— not  by  the  child 
certainly,  though  to  its  intense  amazement.  This  is 
exactly  our  share  in  the  matter. 

"  Great  and  mighty  changes  will  come  in  this  land  for 
the  release  of  the  people  of  God  from  their  cruel  suffering 
and  bondage,  but  the  time  is  hidden  from  us.      *      *      * 


POWER  TO   OBEY  109 

Sometimes  it  feels  as  it  does  before  a  storm,  when  there  is  a 
freshness  in  the  air  before  the  rain  ;  but  the  rain  will  come, 
and  it  will  not  be  a  shower  but  a  heavy  storm  of  blessing 
for  Russia,  deluging  the  dry  ground  and  preparing  the 
seed  sown  for  a  great  and  wide  harvest,  in  which  the 
reapers  shall  reap  to  life  eternal." 

To  his  son  Willianty  in  Paris. 

Petersburg,  19-11-92. 

^^  All  our  talents,  all  our  ignorances  even — all  our 
strength  and  all  our  weakness,  in  the  Divine  Hand  can  be 
worked  up  into  usefulness,  exactly  in  proportion  as  we 
are  obedient  to  that  which  the  Holy  Spirit  shews  us  we 
ought  to  do  and  not  do.  A  man  can  do  nothing  of  himself, 
unless  it  be  to  shut  his  eyes  to  the  light ;  yet  with  every 
conviction  that  God  brings  home  to  us.  He  gives  as  much 
power  to  obey  as  will  carry  us  through  that  particular 
requirement.  This  measure  of  power  ('  power  belongeth 
unto  God ')  is  also  called  *  the  measure  of  faith '  ('  faith  is 
the  gift  of  God ')  and  the  soul  in  at  once  closing  with  it, 
takes  hold  of  that  power,  or  faith,  and  by  it  is  carried 
through.   This  is  what  is  meant  by  '  the  obedience  of  faith.' 

"Now  to  take  a  very  commonplace  illustration  :  when 
we  would  be  carried  along  the  street  by  a  force  superior 
to  our  own,  we  grasp  the  bar  of  a  passing  tramcar,  and  in 
grasping  it,  we  take  hold  of  a  strength  far  beyond  our 
own — we  share  the  power,  so  to  say,  that  is  to  carry  us 
on  our  way.  But  if  we  hesitate  and  stand  waiting  for  a 
moment  that  will  require  no  effort  on  our  part — the  car 
passes  :  only  to  leave  us  losers  of  so  much  precious  time, 
and  with  exactly  the  same  condition  to  fulfil  when  the  next 
car  passes.   We  must  thus  much  '  co-operate '  with  God." 

To  his  Wife. 

Petersburg,  21-11-92. 

**  On  Seventh-day  evening  the  Pastor  of  the  British- 
American  Congregational  Chapel  called  to  suggest  our 


no  A  FRIENDS'  MEETING 

holding  a  Friends'  Meeting  in  that  building  after  our  own 
manner  entirely.  It  appeared  to  be  right  to  accept  this 
opening,  and  Pastor  Francis  gave  it  out  at  the  close  of 
their  usual  morning  gathering  yesterday  for  half-past  six 
in  the  evening.  I  need  hardly  say  that  the  prospect 
brought  a  good  deal  of  weight  upon  our  minds.  About 
150  persons  gathered.  Everything  is  so  unlike  what  we 
are  accustomed  to,  that  I  will  briefly  describe  the  scene. 

''  The  street  is  very  near  this  hotel.  On  reaching  the 
door  several  droschkies  were  drawing  up  with  their 
passengers — one  young  man  in  a  sort  of  military  uniform 
helping  a  dark-complexioned  lady,  his  mother,  from  such 
a  carriage — a  Persian  who  spoke  to  us  at  the  close  of  the 
Meeting.  Entering  the  double  doors  we  pass  from  the  hall 
to  a  large  room  on  the  left,  filled  up  from  end  to  end  with 
elaborate  coat  and  hat  stands  ;  and  a  general  disrobing  of 
furs  and  wraps,  taking  off  of  goloshes,  etc.,  soon  fills 
these  completely. 

''The  chapel  itself  is  a  long  nice  room  with  plain 
cushioned  seats  on  either  hand  of  a  central  gangway  or 
aisle.  The  pulpit  in  the  far  corner  on  our  right  was  un- 
occupied, but  a  little  table  stood  on  a  raised  dais  in  front 
of  us  with  three  chairs.  J.  J.  Neave  took  one,  and  the 
Pastor  and  I  sat  on  either  hand  of  him. 

"  Briefly  explaining  that  we  had  no  form  of  service,  but 
that  we  waited  in  silence  to  feel  after  God,  who  is  a  Spirit 
and  who  must  be  worshipped  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  J.  J.  N. 
added  :  '  I  will  read  a  chapter  in  the  Bible,  and  after 
that  we  will  endeavour  to  settle  into,  not  a  formal  silence, 
but  an  earnest  exercise  of  soul  to  seek  after  God.'  The 
chapter  was  the  last  in  Revelation.  A  very  solid  sflence 
followed,  and  then  J.  J.  N.  knelt  in  prayer  that  seemed  to 
reach  to  those  present.  After  another  silence  he  rose  and 
spoke  of  the  manner  in  which  the  whole  Scriptures  from 
Genesis  to  Revelation  pointed  to  Christ  in  His  varied 
offices  as  a  King  and  a  Priest  and  a  Saviour.     The  Meeting 


THE  MONK  ALEXIS  in 

listened  with  very  deep  attention  and  I  believe  there  was 
general  satisfaction  felt.     *    *    * 

"  We  had  previously  engaged  to  go  at  half-past  eight  to 
the  house  of  a  lady  who  had  been  at  the  Meeting.  The 
house  is  on  the   Quay,  some  distance  past  the  Winter 

Palace.     walked  there  with  me  through  the  fine 

drizzling  snow.  The  flash  and  glisten  of  the  crystals  in 
the  fierce  electric  light  of  the  Palaces  was  painful  to  the 
sight— though  not  so  bad,  I  was  assured,  as  the  effect  in 
the  noon  sunlight.  This  '  Palace  Quay '  runs  for  a  long 
distance  on  the  bank  of  the  Neva,  and  the  effect  of  the 
dark  flowing  waters  on  the  one  hand  and  the  dazzling 
white  on  the  other,  was  very  grand.  Every  time  we 
passed  under  an  electric  lamp,  the  shadow  of  the  falling 
snow  looked  like  the  flow  on  the  ground  of  a  grey  faint 
stream ;  for  the  snow  was  in  fine  dust,  not  in  flakes. 

"  It  occurs  to  me  that  I  have  left  out  of  its  right  place  a 
visit  we  paid  on  Seventh-day  afternoon  to  the  Monk 
Alexis— a  sweet  and  gentle  old  man  who  would  be  a 
shining  Christian  if  he  were  not  so  buried  in  learning ! 
George  Prince  went  with  us.  In  one  of  the  *  lines '  or 
street  sides  abutting  on  the  mercantile  part  of  the  Neva, 
we  pass  through  a  porte  cochire  into  a  large  courtyard 
with  some  trees  in  the  centre.  This  is  the  hostelry  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Kiev,  and  the  '  Kievsky  '  monastery. 

"Up  a  little  flight  of  stone  steps— into  a  passage — again 
into  one  on  the  left — and  finally  through  the  inevitable 
double  doors  into  a  room  the  size  of  our  schoolroom,  but 
rather  higher.  A  little  table,  two  or  three  large  book- 
cases, a  little  bed  half  hidden  by  a  curtain,  and  a  sweet 
and  venerable  old  man  with  his  grey  hair  streaming  over 
his  shoulders,  seizing  us  by  both  hands  and  talking  what  a 
geologist  would  describe  as  metamorphosed  French,  to  bid 
us  welcome  to  this  his  cell.  He  leads  us  through  into 
another  similar  room  to  hang  up  our  coats  and  hats,  and 
stow  away  our  goloshes,  and  then  we  return  to  the  cell 


112  MONASTIC  LIFE 

and  are  seated  by  the  little  table,  which  in  ten  minutes  is 
covered  three  deep  with  books.  Chief  among  these  is 
Max  Mtiller's  '  Sacred  Books  of  the  East  '—and  the  dear 
old  man  wants  to  see  these  translated  into  Russ.  Nothing 
will  do  but  that  I  must  undertake  to  convey  a  copy  of 
Alexis'  own  works  to  the  Professor  at  Oxford — and  then 
he  sits  down  to  write  a  letter  in  English  on  a  sheet  of 
foolscap  to  beg  his  acceptance  of  them.  Between  the 
three  of  us  we  turn  out  a  very  respectable  letter,  which 
winds  up  with  the  suggestion  that  the  '  Sacred  Books  of  the 
East '  should  be  translated  and  published  in  Russ.  *    *    * 

"  Oh,  what  a  mistake  monastic  life  is !  This  man,  I 
repeat,  would  be,  if  in  natural  and  healthy  contact  with  his 
fellows,  a  burning  and  a  shining  light.  As  it  is,  he  is  shut 
in  with  his  books  to  waste  his  energy  on  studies  of  the 
letter  of  Scripture  that  profit  but  very  little  indeed 
compared  with  the  living  openly  and  tangibly  before  men. 

"  W.  Hilton,  of  whom  I  have  several  times  spoken,  is  the 
managing  partner  in  a  very  large  linseed  oil  works  here. 
Until  some  years  ago  the  great  mass  of  the  Russian 
peasantry  used  to  use  rape  or  hemp-seed  oil  to  drink 
during  the  long  period  of  the  fast  prescribed  by  the  Greek 
Church — a  fast  so  severe  that  nothing  whatever  that  is  of 
or  from  an  animal  must  pass  the  lips  for  several  weeks. 
So  strictly  do  they  observe  this  that  they  will  not,  or  many 
of  them  will  not,  eat  anything  that  has  sugar  in,  because 
sugar  is  refined  with  animal  charcoal.  A  doctor  told  me 
last  week  that  he  was  called  in  to  see  a  dying  baby  whose 
mother  would  not  suckle  it  for  fear  of  making  the  little 
thing  sin  by  taking  milk.  The  doctor  sent  for  the  priest 
to  remove  the  embargo  and  save  the  little  life,  but  he  said 
'  No— God  gave  the  child,  let  Him  take  it,'  and  the  infant 
was  literally  starved  to  death  and  laid  in  its  little  grave  as 
a  Divine  requirement. 

"  Well,  when  some  years  ago  the  hemp  crop  failed,  the 
blow  was  terrible  to  these  poor  people,  for  they  had  no 


SIR   ROBERT   MORIER  113 

other  oil  to  fall  back  upon.    W.  Hilton  then  proposed  to 

the  mill  proprietors  under  whom  he  was  serving,  that  they 

should  procure  a  finer  quality  of  linseed  and  produce  a 

sweet  edible  oil  that  might  take  the  place  of  the  sort  that 

had  failed.     The  objection  previously  to  linseed  was  that 

it  was  bitter  and  earthy  in  taste.     But  his  plan  was  adopted, 

and  now  an  enormous  quantity  of  the  fine  quality  of  linseed 

oil  is  consumed  in  this  way." 

Petersburg,  29-11-92. 

"  Joseph  Neave  keeps  on  his  way  without  elevation  or 
depression,  so  far  as  I  can  see.  He  has  a  good  deal  of 
trial,  but  from  causes  unconnected  with  his  errand  here. 
I  cannot  help  feeling  the  violent  contrast  between  my  own 
position  here  and  that  of  men  like  Daniel  Wheeler,  Stephen 
Grellet  and  Thomas  Shillitoe— but  what  can  I  do?  I  can- 
not add  one  inch  to  my  stature,  nor  make  myself  spiritually 
anything  else  than  the  strange  compound  of  inconsistencies 
I  have  been  for  most  of  my  life.  If  I  am  sent  into  the 
harvest-field  as  a  child  to  glean  where  they  stood  as 
powerful  men  to  reap,  I  must  do  the  best  I  can." 

To  his   Wife. 

Petersburg,  8-12-92. 

"  Yesterday  we  had  an  intimation  that  the  British 
Ambassador,  Sir  Robert  Morier,  would  be  pleased  if  we 
called  on  him.  *  *  *  We  pass  through  two 
ante-rooms  to  the  Ambassador's  own  apartment.  A  tall, 
splendid-looking  old  English  gentleman  meets  us  in  the 
doorway,  shaking  hands  and  making  us  at  once  welcome. 
He  leads  us  to  three  chairs,  and  we  seat  ourselves  one  on 
each  side  of  him.  Sir  Robert  Morier  is  very  much  such  a 
man  as  William  Henry  Hyett  was.  I  am  not  quite  clear 
whether  it  belongs  to  the  old  Adam  to  feel  proud  as  an 
Englishman,  but  I  did  feel  glad  that  such  a  man  and  such 
an  environment  represented  the  power  of  Great  Britain 
vis  a  vis  the  Russian  Empire.  He  reminded  me  of  an 
old  lion,  quiet  and  majestic,  *  -J^-  *  With  us  he  was 
H 


114  A  LECTURE  TO   CHILDREN 

exceedingly  kind  and  gentle  and   sympathetic  when  he 
found  the  lines  on  which  we  intend  to  keep. 

"  Pastor  Francis  has  just  been  in  to  arrange  for  me  to 
talk  to  the  children  in  the  British- American  Congregational 
School  on  the  making  of  a  Roman  road,  and  how  it  was 
used.     The  American  Minister  will  be  present." 

To  his   Wife. 

Petersburg,  12-12-92. 

"  My  little  lecture  to  the  school- children  came  off  this 
afternoon. 

"There  are  about  60  boys  and  girls,  the  only  school  in 
the  Russian  Empire  not  under  the  Minister  of  Public 
Instruction,  as  it  is  under  the  shield  of  the  United  States 
Embassy  and  reckoned  to  belong  to  it.  This  is  a  wonder- 
ful advantage  to  the  English  and  American  colony  here, 
for  it  enables  the  committee  of  management  to  get  English 
teachers ;  whereas  they  must  have  Russians  otherwise, 
and  would  be  compelled  to  give  the  bulk  of  the  instruction 
in  the  Russian  language.  I  found  the  youngest  boys  were 
nine  years  of  age — and  so  I  began  by  talking  to  them  about 
marbles,  going  on  to  Latin,  and  telling  them  how  I  did  not 
like  Latin  when  /  was  nine,  and  how  I  used  to  draw 
elephants  when  I  was  not  watched,  and  paint  them 
yellow — that  they  were  very  pretty — better  than  any 
pictures  in  the  Winter  Palace  here— but  that  it  ended  in 
my  not  knowing  Latin,  which  I  was  now  sorry  for.  Then 
with  the  blackboard  I  described  the  building  of  Rome,  the 
formation  of  the  legion,  and  the  work  on  a  new  roadway, 
etc.  I  think  I  managed  to  keep  it  simple  enough  for  them, 
and  Andrew  White  [the  U.  S.  Minister]  made  a  good  little 
speech  of  thanks  at  the  end,  when  the  60  children  gave  a 
tremendous  clapping  of  hands,  sang  '  Auld  Lang  Syne,' 
and  we  adjourned  upstairs  for  tea. 

"  Here  we  were  joined  by  Princess  .     She  is 

passionately  loyal  to  the  Emperor  and  the  monarchical 


SYMPATHY 


"5 


principle,  but  hates  all  intolerance  with  undisguised  hate. 
She  was  much  pleased  to  hear  us  say  that  we  have  a  good 
hope  that  Russia  will  rise  out  of  these  troubles.  As  she 
was  leaving  the  room  I  was  saying,  '  I  find  nearly  every- 
body in  Russia  believes  that  the  Emperor  is  the  highest 
power  in  the  Empire— and  that  after  him  comes  the 
Governor  of  a  province — after  the  Governor  comes  the 
Ispravnik  (Chief  of  Police,)  and  somewhere,  below  the 
Ispravnik,  comes  the  Almighty.'  She  was  standing  out- 
side the  door  when  I  said  this  at  parting,  but  she  came 
back  into  the  room,  seized  my' hand  and  gave  it  a  strong 
grip  and  said,  '  You  are  right/'  " 

To  his  daughter  Marian. 

Petersburg,  13-12-92. 
'*  Last  week  I  was  calling  on  an  old  lady  (who  is  going 
to  send  her  portrait  to  mamma)  and  found  a  poor  broken- 
down-looking  old  woman  of  the  poorer  sort,  waiting  in  the 
same  room.  I  think  she  must  have  seen  better  days,  for 
she  afterwards  spoke  to  me  in  French.  I  felt  a  great 
sympathy  towards  her  :  though  of  course  I  knew  nothing 
whatever  about  her — and  turning  to  the  lady  of  the  house, 
I  asked  her  to  tell  the  old  woman  that  I  felt  the  Almighty 
had  as  much  care  of  her  and  watched  over  her  as  much 
for  good  as  if  she  were  the  only  being  in  the  world.  As 
the  Russian  sounds  fell  on  her  ear  in  the  interpretation, 
the  poor  old  soul  burst  into  tears ;  and  when  a  moment 
after  I  was  taking  leave,  she  laid  her  thin  trembling  hand 
in  mine  and  said  in  French,  '  May  the  Lord  bless  you  for 
coming  from  so  far  away  to  say  a  word  of  consolation !  * 
I  heard  from  the  hostess  her  story  afterwards  :  it  was  one 
of  overwhelming  griefs." 

To  his  Wife. 

Petersburg,  18-12-92. 
"  This  will  be  my  last  from  Petersburg  till  our  return, 
as  we  start  for  Moscow  to-morrow  evening.     Our  work 

H2 


ii6  THE  REPRESSION   OF  DISSENT 

here  feels  finished  so  far  as  the  city  is  concerned,  and 
gives  no  condemnation  in  the  retrospect,  though  I  need 
hardly  say  I  feel  empty  and  commonplace,  as  if  I  had 
never  anything  to  do  with  it  at  all. 

"Princess  told  us  with  a  quiet  smile  that  the 

Petersburg  paper  '  Novosti '  (News)  of  yesterday  has  an 
attack  on  J.  J.  N.  and  me  as  '  two  Quakers  from  England 
who  have  come  to  Russia  to  force  an  open  door — inasmuch 
as  there  is  already  full  liberty  of  conscience  in  Russia ' !  " 

To  his  Wife. 

20-12-92. 

"  I  believe  my  last  brought  our  narrative  to  First-day 
morning.     In  the  evening  we  went  to  bid  farewell  to 

Baroness and  family.     Two  young  ladies  came  in. 

One  of  them  was  a  strong  apologist  for  the  support  of  the 
Greek    Church  as   a  political  necessity  in  the  present 

condition  of  Russian  society.     Except  Princess   , 

she  was  decidedly  the  most  original  and  vigorous  thinker 
we  have  met  with  since  coming  from  England,  and  I 
greatly  enjoyed  her  determined  onslaught  on  whomsoever 
she  attacked.  She  admitted  several  of  our  points  however. 
As  to  the  maintenance  of  the  Greek  Church  by  the  iron- 
handed  repression  of  dissent,  I  put  it  to  her  that  all  this 
could  do  would  be,  not  to  preserve  the  Greek  Church,  but 
its  empty  shell ;  and  that  the  Pobedonostzeff  policy  would 
simply  do  for  it  what  the  white  ants  do  in  Africa  for  all  the 
furniture  in  a  house :  eat  out  the  substance  more  and 
more,  leaving  the  outside  seemingly  sound,  till  at  last  the 
whole  thing  crushed  to  dust." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

JOURNEY  TO  SOUTH  RUSSIA— COUNT  TOLSTOI-VLADIKAFKAS— 
THROUGH  THE  MOUNTAINS-MAGNIFICENT  SCENERY— ARRIVAL 
AT  TIFLIS. 

AS  a  knowledge  at  first  hand  of  the  people  they  were 
trying  to  help  was  indispensable,  the  two  Friends 
now  left  St.  Petersburg  for  the  Trans-Caucasus,  travelling 
by  way  of  Moscow  and  the  Georgian  Road  through  the 
mountains,  to  Tiflis.  After  an  absence  of  three  months  on 
their  delicate  errand,  they  returned  by  the  Black  Sea  and 
the  Crimea,  to  Moscow  and  St.  Petersburg. 

The  absence  of  allusion,  in  these  letters,  to  the  more 
private  part  of  the  work  they  were  engaged  in,  is  due  to 
the  reticence  which  Joseph  Neave  and  his  companion 
always  felt  obliged  to  maintain  on  the  subject. 

The  railway  journey  southward  to  Vladikafkas— on 
the  north  of  the  Caucasian  Mountains — was  described 
by  John  Bellows,  in  '  The  Friend,'  as  follows :  — 

"  A  little  before  seven  in  the  morning  the  guard  comes 
to  awaken  those  who  have  bespoken  coffee  at  Klin,  two 
hours  short  of  Moscow,  and  a  few  minutes  after,  at  the 
halt  of  the  train,  a  waiter  enters  with  tumblers  of  hot 
coffee  and  rolls  of  fancy  bread.  One  or  two  of  us  slip  on 
our  furs  and  step  out  on  the  platform  to  see  what  the 
morning  is  like.  It  is  bright,  but  bitterly  cold,  with  a  little 
snow  falling.  The  landscape  is  alternately  a  vast  expanse 
of  white  or  a  forest  of  birches ;  the  spray  of  the  trees  very 
beautiful  in  the  cold  sharp  morning  light. 

**By  and  by  villages  appear  more  frequently,  then 
pretty  villas,  and  the  various  signs  of  approach  to  a  large 


ii8  MOSCOW 

city.  The  snow  falls  faster,  and  we  notice  men  on  the 
line  clearing  it,  and  trains  of  sledges  loaded  with  it  from 
the  streets.  It  is  only  of  late  years.  Count  Tolstoi  says, 
that  they  have  thus  cleared  the  streets,  and  it  must  be 
a  titanic  task  to  do  this  in  such  a  climate  in  a  town  that 
covers  eighteen  square  miles. 

"  At  last  we  slowly  roll  into  a  small  station,  with  space 
for  two  trains  in  width :  the  terminus  of  the  Petersburg 
line.  A  multitude  of  porters  crowd  round  us,  and  in 
a  few  minutes  we  are  seated  in  one  of  the  throng  of 
sledges  standing  in  the  street  outside.  There  are  seats 
for  four,  and  a  pair  of  horses  dash  off  with  us  through  the 
biting  snowstorm  to  the  hotel.  It  is  a  good  distance  ;  but 
everything  is  so  new  and  strange,  and  so  different  even 
from  Petersburg,  that  we  do  not  regret  a  few  minutes 
longer  in  the  transit.  Here  we  are  at  last  in  a  great  open 
space  in  front  of  the  Kremlin  wall,  and  are  quickly  indoors 
in  what  we  hope  may  be  as  comfortable  quarters  as  we 
have  left  in  the  Hotel  d'Angleterre  in  Petersburg. 

"Even  a  brief  description  of  Moscow  would  take  too 
much  space  in  the  present  sketch.  It  is  enough  here  to 
say  that  in  a  couple  of  days  after  our  arrival  we  had  com- 
pleted the  calls  we  were  bound  to  make,  and  obtained 
information  needed  for  our  purpose,  so  that  by  five  o'clock 
in  the  evening  we  were  again  in  the  train,  this  time  not  to 
leave  it,  except  at  a  refreshment-room,  or  to  change 
carriages  twice,  for  seventy-five  hours. 

"  To  travel  on  continuously  from  night  till  morning,  and 
again  till  morning  wears  into  evening,  and  evening  into 
night,  over  the  never-ending  wilderness  of  snow,  gives 
one  to  realise  the  immensity  of  the  Russian  empire  ;  for 
all  these  hundreds  of  miles  mark  but  a  very  small  space 
on  the  map.  Yet,  somehow,  the  time  does  not  hang 
heavily  on  our  hands.     *    -^    * 

"  It  was  really  enjoyable  to  go  outside  and  stand  on  the 
platform  at  the  end  of  the  carriage.     The  morning  air  was 


VISIT  TO  TOLSTOI  119 

sweet,  and  the  train  was  speeding  away  over  the  steppe : 
back  as  far  as  the  limit  of  the  horizon,  and  on  as  far  as  the 
eye  could  reach,  one  vast  wilderness  of  dark  brown,  not 
exactly  a  moorland,  for  there  is  hardly  vegetation  enough 
for  that,  yet  like  a  moorland  that  has  no  beginning  or  end. 
*  Monotonous  ? '  Yes,  but  there  are  monotonies  that  do  not 
weary.  The  sweet  sound  of  a  waterfall  is  one  of  these, 
the  sound  of  the  sea  is  one,  and  so  is  the  endless  heave  of 
the  ocean.  All  vastness  partakes  largely  of  monotony. 
The  vastness  of  this  plain  belting  the  interval  between  the 
Black  Sea  and  the  Caspian  grew  more  and  more  upon  the 
imagination  as  the  train  rolled  on  hour  after  hour  with 
the  same  illimitable  space  still  opening  before  it.  True, 
some  low  hills  appeared  at  a  distance  on  the  left,  and  the 
mist  on  the  right  hung  as  a  veil  between  us  and  the  great 
Alps  of  the  Caucasus  ;  but  for  that  mist  we  should  have 
seen  Elbruz,  the  highest  of  the  range— over  18,500  feet 
above  the  sea.  Yet  before  and  behind,  the  plain  was 
unbroken,  and  the  very  consciousness  of  the  mountains 
being,  as  it  were,  present  but  invisible,  added  to  the  total 
impression  the  steppe  made  upon  one. 

"  The  snow  began  to  appear  again,  and  by  eight  o'clock 
at  night,  when  we  reached  the  terminus  of  Vladikafkas, 
we  found  more  sledges  at  the  station  than  droschkies. 
Stowing  our  baggage  in  one  of  the  latter  and  ourselves  in 
a  sledge,  we  were  soon  at  the  H6tel  de  France,  tired  and 
stiff,  ready  for  a  meal  and  for  the  long  dreamless  sleep 
that  followed  it." 

On  their  way  through  Moscow  the  two  Friends  had 
visited  Count  Tolstoi,  and,  in  respect  to  this  visit  John 
Bellows  wrote  to  his  wife  :— 

"  I  do  not  know  what  began  it— but  some  question  arose 
about  Friends'  non-use  of  '  ordinances,'  when  Fast*  stated 
that  water  baptism  was   commanded  in  Scripture,  and 

*  The  interpreter  who  accompanied  the  Friends  throughout  their 
journey  in  the  South. 


120  SAVING  LIGHT 

that  all  the  Scripture  was  inspired,  citing  Paul's  word  to 
Timothy  in  proof.  Both  Count  Tolstoi  and  I  combated  his 
position,  and  the  conversation  became  very  earnest  and 
touching.  It  was  a  new  idea  to  Fast  that  a  man  could 
fear  God  and  strive  with  all  his  might  to  keep  His  com- 
mandments, who  yet  was  not  a  believer  in  the  Divinity  of 
Christ,  or  in  the  inspiration  of  Paul. 

"  When  I  put  the  Friends'  doctrine  of  Universal  and 
Saving  Light  before  them  both,  they  were  both  greatly 
impressed  by  it.  Count  Tolstoi  turned  to  me  with 
exceeding  emotion—'  Oh !  how  glad  I  am  to  hear  you  say 
this  !  Why  do  the  Friends  not  try  to  spread  this  doctrine  ? ' 
(Then  turning  to  Fast)  '  You  with  your  sticking  hard  by 
the  letter  have  no  unity  with  me  because  I  cannot  admit  of 
your  baptism — and  I  have  no  unity  with  you  in  that — but 
Jesus  Christ  prayed  that  we  might  be  one,  even  as  he 
and  his  Father  are  one.  How  then  are  we  to  come  to 
this  unity  but  by  the  Spirit?  Here  this  friend,  standing  in 
the  Spirit,  can  have  unity  with  both  of  us  whose  views  are 
different  from  his :  with  you,  notwithstanding  you  are 
opposed  to  him  on  water-baptism — and  he,  who  believes 
in  the  Divinity  of  Christ,  can  at  the  same  time  feel  that 
unity  with  you  who  also  believe  in  it,  and  with  me  who  do 
not  believe  in  it  at  all !  God  teaches  us  all,  though  we  do 
not  all  see  things  from  the  same  stand-point.  You  who 
stand  there  see  that  table  and  say  '  It  is  long  : '  and  I  who 
view  it  from  here  say  '  No,  it  is  broad ; '  but  if  I  strive  to 
obey  God  and  to  follow  Him  with  the  light  I  now  have,  do 
you  believe  if  I  die  now  that  He  will  save  my  soul  ? '  I 
never  looked  on  anything  more  touching.  The  big  tears 
filled  his  eyes  as  he  turned  his  sorrow-stricken  face  full 
upon  Fast.  Fast's  lips  quivered  as  he  answered,  '  Yes — I 
do  believe  He  will/'  It  was  a  memorable  moment  for 
each  of  us  ;  and  I  feel  certain  that  each  of  us  felt  his  heart 
broadened  and  deepened  in  the  sense  of  the  everlasting 
love  of  God,  whose  ways  are  wonderful  and  past  finding 


UNITY  121 

out.  Fast  was  exceedingly  impressed :  and  he  told  us 
last  night  in  the  train  that  the  whole  opportunity  was  a 
new  experience  for  him.  He  turned  again  to  the  passages 
in  Timothy  and  Peter,  that  we  had  dwelt  upon,  and  I  can 
see  that  his  eyes  are  getting  opened  to  the  truth. 

"  Count  Tolstoi  put  with  admirable  force  the  poorness 
of  the  foundation  that  the  letter  of  Scripture  is  our  guide 
and  not  the  revelation  of  God  direct  to  the  soul,  pointing 
out  that  if  that  were  true,  then  the  clever  and  the  learned 
men  would  know  the  most  of  the  things  of  God  instead  of 
the  simple  and  the  pure  in  heart.  '  How  will  you  decide, 
or  shall  I  decide,  which  is  the  text,  when  there  are  so 
many  thousands,  yes,  thousands  of  variantes  in  the  MSS.  ? 
Who  shall  tell  us  what  are  canonical  books  and  what  are 
apocryphal  ?  Shall  we  take  the  report  of  bishops  in  the 
fifth  or  sixth  century  who  held  doctrines  neither  of  us 
believe  to  be  true  ?  If  you  go  by  the  letter,  you  will  end 
by  having  sects  without  end  :  but  if  you  are  led  by  the 
Spirit,  it  will  bring  you  into  one-ness  with  God.  Yes— I 
am  glad  you  have  said  what  you  did :  I  feel  —  what  do 
you  say  for  it  —  ? '  '  Unity,'  I  suggested.  'Yes,  unity.  I 
feel  unity  with  you.' 

"  He  persuaded  us  to  stay  and  take  lunch  as  the  time 
was  close  at  hand.  We  went  downstairs  to  a  dining  room 
leading  out  of  the  entrance  hall,  where  most  of  the  family, 
and  an  English  governess,  were  seated  at  table.  It  was 
a  treat  to  me  to  have  vegetarian  cookery  without  making 
a  special  request  for  it. 

'* '  I  will  walk  back  with  you  to  your  hotel  if  you  will 
stay  and  take  some  lunch  first,'  Count  Tolstoi  had  said  ; 
and  now,  putting  on  his  peasant's  sheepskin  coat  and  fur 
cap,  and  taking  his  staff,  we  started.  The  cold  was  sharp, 
our  moustaches  and  beards  freezing  hard  :  but  I  got  very 
warm  walking.  He  told  me  that  to  find  men  dead  from 
cold  is  not  uncommon  :  though  '  vodky  '  often  has  some- 
thing to  do  with  this.     *    *    * 


122  CROSSING  THE  STEPPE 

"  Count  Tolstoi  is  too  continually  in  earnest  to  smile 
often.  I  only  heard  him  laugh  once,  and  that  was  when, 
looking  up  at  some  of  the  names  on  the  signs,  I  said : 
'  I  wish  your  Russian  words  were  not  so  long.  If  you 
would  cut  them  in  three  I  believe  I  could  swallow  them 
and  digest  them— but  now  I  can  do  neither.'  He  seemed 
tickled,  and  laughed  quite  a  merry  little  laugh." 

To  his  Wife. 

Vladikafkas,  26-12-92. 

"  Here   we    are,   brought   well   and   satisfactorily   to 

another  stage  of  our  journey,  the  capital  of  the  Northern 

Caucasus. 

*  *  *  * 

"  When  we  woke  yesterday  ttiorning  we  found  the 
climate  milder,  and  for  hour  after  hour  we  passed  along 
the  steppe  or  moorland  uncovered  with  snow.  The 
monotony  of  this  tremendous  expanse  did  not  weary  me, 
but  the  contrary.  As  the  afternoon  wore  on  we  got  to  a 
greater  elevation.  Hills  were  on  our  left  at  a  distance  ; 
and  now  for  a  long  way  we  had  them  on  our  right  also — a 
level  line  like  Cleeve  from  the  valley.  At  last  I  could  see 
dots  on  the  slope,  and  then  in  the  plain.  As  we  drew 
nearer  I  thought  they  might  be  huts — but  they  were  hay- 
stacks^ hay  cut  from  the  steppe — now  getting  more  grassy. 
And  then  for  scores  of  miles  they  dotted  the  landscape 
everywhere.  The  villages  were  rare  and  wretched- 
looking.  Snow  again  covered  everything  as  night  drew 
on,  and  when  we  reached  Vladikafkas,  2300  feet  above 
the  sea,  the  air  had  a  mountain  feel  about  it  that  was  not 
unpleasant.  The  people  now  began  to  look  far  more 
foreign,  dark  Armenian  and  Tartar  countenances,  strange 
great  white  wool  caps,  long  bourkas  or  cloaks  of  coarse 
black  goats'  hair ;  women  with  shawls  over  their  heads — 
children  padded  to  a  rotundity  that  would  amaze  some  of 
you  at  home.     *    *    * 


VLADIKAFKAS  123 

"  At  the  station  we  found  a  train  waiting  for  the 
Cesarewitch,  who  is  crossing  the  mountain  to-day  on  his 
return  to  Petersburg.  The  town  is  decorated  with  flags, 
etc.,  to  receive  him.  We  were  informed  that  no  one  will 
be  allowed  to  leave  Vladikafkas  for  Tiflis  until  5  o'clock 
to-morrow  morning— a  very  reasonable  precaution  for 
the  Prince's  safety.  This  will  give  us  one  day's  rest 
before  the  strain  of  driving  200  versts  Wun  seiil  coup, 
and  it  will  not  delay  our  work.  The  Imperial  party  is 
making  the  passage  of  the  mountain  at  the  moment  I 
am  writing." 

To  his  Wife. 

Vladikafkas,  27-12-92. 

"  The  Heir  Apparent  and  the  Governor  General  [of  the 
Trans-Caucasus]  came  through  at  ii.o  last  night,  so  that 
the  road  is  free  for  ordinary  traffic  again.  *  *  *  At 
1 1  o'clock  as  Fast  and  I  were  sitting  writing  (  J.  J.  Neave 
had  gone  to  post  a  letter)  a  sudden  sound  of  hurrahing 
burst  on  our  ears,  and  we  ran  down  to  the  hall-door  to  see 
a  strange  and  beautiful  spectacle.  The  principal  streets 
of  V.  are  1 20  feet  wide,  with  a  pretty  avenue  of  trees  and 
a  broad  foot-walk  in  the  centre.  As  the  houses  are  for 
the  most  part  bungalow-fashion,  all  on  the  ground-floor, 
it  makes  the  town  cover  a  very  large  area  with  20,000 
population.  Poles  had  been  planted  for  miles  along  both 
sides  of  our  carriage-way,  hung  with  banners  of  the 
Russian  tricolor.  Coloured  lamps  were  burning  all  along 
the  front,  and  of  course  the  entire  population,  almost,  turned 
out  to  welcome  their  future  sovereign.  The  night  was 
misty,  which  added  greatly  to  the  effect.  Just  beyond  us 
to  the  south  was  a  glow  of  crimson  fire  that  coloured  the 
fog  itself  in  wonderful  Turner-fashion,  and  carriage  after 
carriage  came  rushing  out  of  this  red  mist,  passing  our 
door  at  a  dashing  gallop  and  plunging  away  into  the  mist 
beyond.  In  front  of  us  the  frost-spangled  trees  of  the 
Boulevard,  and  the  white  snow  imder  them,  reflected  and 


124  A  GATHERING 

sparkled  the  flashes  of  light  that  followed  one  another  in 
rhythm,  for  a  squadron  of  Cosaks  galloped  by,  each 
horseman  carrying  a  blazing  torch.  Fancy  all  this  and 
the  roar  of  cheering  rising  and  then  rolling  away  and 
dying  in  the  distance  with  the  disappearance  of  the 
Imperial  train — and  thou  wilt  not  wonder  at  Joseph 
Neave's  enthusiasm  as  he  came  in  from  his  walk  to  the 
Post-office,  nearly  out  of  breath  as  he  said,  '  This  beats 
Petersburg  altogether.' 

*'  Our  posting  arrangements  are  set  aside— beggars 
must  not  be  choosers — and  we  have  to  wait  till  three 
o'clock  to-morrow  afternoon. 

"  Now  let  me  describe  a  visit  we  made  to  some  of  our 

friends    in    ,   people   who    are    beloved  by  their 

neighbours.  A  few  only  came  to  see  us,  because  they 
are  not  allowed  to  hold  large  gatherings.  As  these  few 
came  in — middle-aged  men — they  shake  hands  and  kiss  us, 
Russian  fashion ;  and  after  J.  J.  N.  has  told  them  through 
our  interpreter  of  the  way  in  which  he  was  drawn  to  visit 
this  land,  we  drop  into  a  meeting  for  worship.  One  of  the 
Russians  prays  in  a  very  humble  and  broken  spirit,  and  is 
followed  by  another  in  the  same  true  power  and  feeling. 
I  do  not  remember  ever  to  have  been  in  such  an  assembly. 
The  voice  of  the  speaker  was  several  times  choked  by 
suppressed  sobs,  and  the  low  quiet  tones  of  it  again  and 
again  mingled  with  sounds  of  weeping  from  every  person 
in  the  room.  I  felt  crushed  with  a  sense  of  my  own 
unfitness  to  be  with  these  dear  people,  many  of  whose 
countenances  bore  the  visible  Shekinah  of  the  Divine 
communion.  The  91st  Psalm  was  read  (the  90th  in  the 
Russian  notation)  and  Joseph  Neave  prayed  with  much 
power ;  then  two  more  of  the  Russians  :  the  overshadow- 
ing heavenly  influence  being  very  manifest. 

'*  After  the  Meeting  was  over,  tea  was  placed  on  the 
table  with  a  beautiful  pile  of  rusks  and  glasses  of 
preserved  cherries  which  they  put  into  the  tea,  and  very 


BAPTISM  125 

nice  they  are.  I  should  remark  that  here  in  the  Caucasus 
we  are  in  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey.  Dried 
fruits  of  great  variety  are  sold  everywhere,  and  wine 
from  the  vineyards  by  which  we  are  surrounded,  can  be 
bought  in  quantity  at  three  farthings  a  bottle.  The  bread 
is  the  lightest  and  most  beautiful  I  have  ever  seen.  It  is 
placed  before  us  in  slices  like  snow-white  fleece,  and  is 
sold  at  four  kopeks  (a  penny)  a  pound  :  the  pound  being 
about  fourteen  ounces. 

"But  to  come  back  to  our  Meeting.  They  were  all 
very  earnest  to  hear  anything  we  could  tell  them  about 
Friends,  and  were  well  satisfied  with  what  we  could 
tell  them  about  our  doctrines — especially  of  the  benefit 
of  silence  in  worship,  and  of  doing  nothing  without  the 
leading  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  When  they  came  to  ask  about 
Baptism,  we  had  only  to  instance  the  remarkable  time  of 
favor  we  had  just  experienced  together  in  which  we 
had  been  as  unmistakably  baptized  into  one  spirit  with 
them,  as  were  Cornelius  and  his  household  with  Peter 
when  he  began  to  speak  to  them.  Their  hearts  were 
like  wax,  ready  for  the  touch  of  the  seal ;  and  I  cannot 
doubt  that  a  blessing  will  follow  our  so-unlooked-for 
meeting.  Two  elderly  women  had  come  in  after  we 
had  gathered,  with  shawls  over  their  heads — their  tears, 
too,  fell  thick  and  fast  with  ours. 

"  We  have  arranged  for  a  sort  of  spring- van  to  take  us 
and  our  baggage — taking  three  tickets  at  1 2  roubles  each ; 
in  addition  to  which  we  must  pay  to-morrow  3  roubles  in 
all,  additional :  government  passenger  duty.  We  are  to 
start  at  3,  with  four  horses  abreast,  and  in  steep  parts  of 
the  road  these  will  be  supplemented  by  two  in  front;  in 
the  steepest  of  all  by  four  in  front." 

The  impressive  yet  toilsome  drive  of  one  hundred  and 
thirty-three  miles  from  Vladikafkas  to  Tiflis,  through  the 
main  chain  of  the  Caucasus,  was  described  by  John  Bellows 


126  THE   GEORGIAN   ROAD 

at  the  time,  in  the   London   'Friend';   from  which  the 
following  narrative  is  taken. 

THE  GEORGIAN  ROAD  THROUGH  THE  CAUCASIAN 
MOUNTAINS. 

"The  total  length  of  the  road  [from  Vladikafkas]  to 
Tiflis  is  200  versts,  or  133  English  miles.  To  make  the 
journey  we  must  take  post-horses  at  the  Government 
station,  booking  beforehand,  and  awaiting  our  turn.  At 
length  all  is  arranged  ;  three  tickets  taken  by  *  omnibus,' 
for  which  we  pay  12  roubles  each,  with  an  additional 
rouble  per  head,  passenger  duty  ;  and  all  baggage  beyond 
a  pood''*'  per  person,  to  be  paid  for  extra.  We  are  to 
start  at  3  o'clock  the  following  afternoon,  and  travel  on  all 
night  with  four  horses,  changing  them  at  twelve  stations, 
with  additional  ones  at  three  or  four  of  the  hardest 
gradients. 

"At  2.30  p.m.  on  the  27th  of  Twelfth-month  we  are 
on  the  ground.  The  omnibus  was  to  take  one  inside 
passenger  besides  ourselves,  and  one  outside.  The  inside 
passenger  presently  made  his  appearance— a  powerfully 
built  Georgian  of  over  6ft.  in  height,  with  features  exactly 
like  those  carved  on  the  Assyrian  monuments.  He  wore 
a  bourka— the  felted  wool  cloak  of  the  country,  which 
coming  to  his  feet,  and  projecting  all  round  like  an  inverted 
cone,  made  him  between  4ft.  and  5ft.  in  diameter; 
seemingly  an  omnibus-load  of  himself;  and  under  the 
bourka,  stuck  in  his  girdle,  a  silver-mounted  dagger. 
The  outside  passenger  was  a  little  man :  a  Jew,  of  over 
eighty  years  of  age,  who  took  his  place  between  the 
driver  and  the  conductor. 

"  All  our  luggage  being  loaded  left  barely  room  for  the 
four  of  us  to  squeeze  in  with  it.  A  further  quantity  of 
goods  that  had  arrived  by  rail  was  hastily  placed  on  a 
goods-wagon,  both  sets  of  horses  put  to,  and  the  bugle 

*  A  pood  is  40  Russian  pounds ;  36  English  pounds. 


IN  THE  TEREK  VALLEY  127 

being  sounded,  in  the  old  English  coach  style,  for  our 
departure,  we  trotted  out  of  the  yard  and  started  up  the 
road  in  a  somewhat  imposing  style. 

"  The  afternoon  was  sunny  and  beautiful,  and  the 
mountains  we  were  aiming  for  were  full  in  view,  some 
versts  in  the  distance  ;  or  rather  their  outworks,  for  the 
giant  heights  of  Kasbek  and  his  fellows  were  still  veiled 
from  our  sight.  Had  the  weather  been  clear  we  should 
have  seen,  when  midway  from  Rostof,  Elbruz,  the  loftiest 
height  west  of  the  Himalayas— 18,526  ft.  Kasbek,  right 
before  us,  but  as  yet  invisible  in  the  cloud,  is  16,546  ft. 

"By  and  by  we  have  steep  hills  on  each  side  of  us, 
covered  with  woods,  not  unlike  Frocester  or  Stinchcombe 
in  the  Cottes wolds.  Fruit  gardens  and  vineyards  cover 
the  valley  between  these  hills  and  the  road,  which  is 
skirted  now  by  Lombardy  poplars  and  now  by  other  trees, 
which,  covered  with  frost,  form  a  silver  veil  that  enhances 
the  picture,  for  in  landscapes  the  half  is  often  more  than 
the  whole. 

"  All  the  way  we  are  accompanied  by  the  swift- flowing 
stream  of  the  Terek,  the  valley  of  which  we  follow  for 
many  miles.  It  narrows,  and  as  the  afternoon  light 
gleams  on  us  we  begin  to  get  a  foretaste  of  the  grander 
and  more  solemn  scenery  of  the  mountains.  All  this  while 
we  have  been  gently  ascending,  so  gently  that  the  horses 
have  not  ceased  to  trot  till  we  halt  at  the  toll  bar,  a  few 
hundred  yards  short  of  Balta,  our  first  stage,  12^  versts 
from  Vladikafkas.  There  is  a  great  traffic  on  the  road. 
We  have  met  or  overtaken  numbers  of  vehicles,  drawn 
by  horses  or  oxen.  All  have  to  draw  aside  at  the  ring 
of  our  conductor's  bugle  :  for  he  is  an  Imperial  servant, 
as  is  every  stable-boy  on  the  road,  who  wears  the  brass 
badge  with  the  double  eagle  in  front  of  his  sheepskin  cap. 

"Our  fellow-traveller,  the  Georgian,  by  this  time  begins 
to  expand  a  little  :  not  physically,  for  there  is  no  margin 
left  for  that !     We  have  not  even  room  to  move  our  feet 


128  THE  GEORGIAN  WINE-GROWER 

for  change  of  posture,  but  must  sit  as  we  are  till  we  reach 
the  station.  He  expands  socially,  telling  us  what  it  costs 
to  convey  wine  from  his  vineyard  to  Stavropol,  where  he 
sells  it.  His  vineyard  of  three  desiatines  (eight  acres)  is 
sixty  versts  beyond  Tiflis :  managed  by  his  wife  and 
family,  to  whom  he  is  going  for  the  holidays — a  pleasant 
surprise  for  them,  as  he  has  not  written  to  say  he  is 
coming.  '  Ask  him  why  he  carries  that  dagger  ?  Has  he 
ever  used  it  ? '  The  interpreter  conveys  the  question,  and 
receives  for  reply,  '  Yes,  he  always  uses  it  when  on  a 
journey  :  never  travels  without  it.'  Pressed  more  closely, 
whether  he  has  ever  shed  blood  with  it,  he  replies,  '  No.' 

"  We  are  at  Balta,  the  first  station.  Everybody  gets 
out  to  stretch  his  legs  while  the  horses  are  being  changed. 
The  Russian  horses  are  usually  more  carefully  trained 
than  ours  ;  obeying  the  voice  of  the  driver  more  readily. 
In  Petersburg  one  seldom  sees  a  whip  used  :  a  word,  and 
shake  of  the  reins  suffice.  In  ten  minutes  we  bestow  our- 
selves as  best  we  may  for  the  next  three  hours.  The 
stage  is  1714^  versts,  and  we  have  to  rise  over  900  ft.  in 
course  of  it. 

"  We  are  now  in  a  valley  between  cliffs,  varying  from 
a  quarter  to  half  a  mile  in  width.  The  sound  of  the  river 
is  again  and  again  audible  as  we  pass  near  a  rough  part 
of  its  bed.  Often  we  seem  approaching  a  dead  wall — to 
make  a  sharp  turn  round  a  corner,  not  seen  till  we  are 
close  upon  it.  The  daylight  has  gone  ;  but  the  moon  has 
risen,  and  the  snow  reflects  so  much  light  that  we  have 
no  absolute  darkness  to  contend  with. 

*'  At  length  we  are  at  Lars  ;  and  as  six  horses  are 
attached  to  our  vehicle,  it  is  evident  we  shall  have  a 
stiffer  pull  in  the  next  14^  versts  to  Kasbek,  which  is 
6455  ft.  above  the  sea,  while  here  at  Lars  we  are  3682  ft. 
We  must  not  confound  the  station  with  the  mountain 
Kasbek,  however:  that  is  a  good  10,000 ft.  higher  still: 
still  buried  in  the  clouds,  mysterious,  invisible. 


A   MOONLIGHT  SCENE  129 

"Where  there  is  so  much  to  catch  the  attention  and 
appeal  to  the  imagination  in  the  heights  and  depths  by 
which  we  are  environed,  it  is  difficult  to  know  what  to 
describe  and  what  to  omit.  At  one  turn  where  a  mountain 
higher  than  Ben  Nevis  suddenly  loomed  above  us,  I  made 
some  exclamation  :  as  indeed  each  of  us  had  involuntarily 
done  again  and  again— when  the  Georgian  gave  a  glance 
at  the  snowy  peak,  and  said  depreciatingly,  '  Thafs 
nothing !  It's  a  inalo — a  malinky  /^(a  little  one — a  little 
mite  of  a  thing.)  Wait  till  you  get  further  on,  to  the 
bolshoi  (big)  cliffs.  Then  you  will  see  things  that  will 
nearly  break  your  neck  to  bend  back  and  look  up  at! 
Things  that  would  frighten  you  if  it  were  daylight,  for  you 
would  think  they  were  going  to  fall  upon  you.'  One 
could  well  understand  the  man.  It  was  the  only  language 
he  could  command  that  would  convey  his  thought. 

"A  hare  had  started  in  front  of  our  horses,  and, 
frightened  at  the  thud  of  their  hoofs,  had  run  for  a  long 
distance  before  them,  up  the  road.  There  seemed  no 
chance  of  escape  from  the  terrible  pursuers,  and  at  last  in 
its  fright  the  little  thing  leaped  over  the  low  wall  on  our 
left,  and  down  the  precipice  that  the  wall  was  built  to 
guard  us  from. 

"It  is  not  easy  to  single  out  and  restore  individual 
pictures  from  the  multitudinous  panorama  of  heights  and 
depths  of  forest  and  rock  and  snowy  summit  that  unrolled 
itself  in  such  continual  succession  before  us  ;  but  there  is 
one  that  will  never  pass  away  from  my  memory.  As  we 
turned  a  corner  under  an  overhanging  rock,  the  moon 
shone  full  on  a  belting  of  white  cloud  in  front  of  the  cliff 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  gorge.  Below  it,  in  un- 
fathomed  darkness,  was  the  sound  of  rushing  water ; 
above  it  rose  the  precipice  ;  and  then  another  great  cloud 
hung  in  aerial  brightness  round  the  masses  of  crag ;  and 
far  up  beyond  that  again,  the  same  tremendous  height 
towered  into  the  sky. 


130  HALTING  -  PLACES 

*'  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  district  through 
which  we  are  passing  was  that  once  under  the  power  of 
the  celebrated  chief  Schamyl,  whose  forts  and  castles  add 
greatly  to  the  picturesque  effect  of  many  points  on  the 
route.  Formerly  we  might  have  been  laid  under  con- 
tribution by  his  bands  of  mountaineers.  In  any  case,  we 
should  not  then  have  been  travelling  in  a  covered  carriage, 
or,  for  the  matter  of  that,  in  any  carriage  at  all ;  for 
before  the  Voenno-Doroga,  or  military  road,  was  made, 
the  track  was  but  a  bridle-path,  and  in  some  places  the 
horseman  was  compelled  to  descend  from  the  saddle  and 
go  on  foot. 

"At  intervals,  too,  we  come  upon  'Doukhans,'  as 
khans  are  here  called — the  ancient  Cold  Harbours,  or 
halting-places,  for  travellers  overtaken  by  nightfall. 

"  It  was  between  9  and  10  at  night  when  we  pulled  up 
at  the  station  of  Kasbek,  6455  ft.  above  the  sea.  The 
snow  was  falling,  and  our  conductor  told  us  that  at  the 
next  station  we  should  have  to  change  to  a  sledge  for 
some  stages.  For  a  considerable  distance  the  road  now 
descended,  and  then  rose  again,  so  that  on  arriving  at  Kobi, 
though  we  were  over  seventeen  versts  further  on  the  way, 
we  had  only  made  a  net  gain  of  1 1 5  ft.  in  elevation. 

"  The  cramped  position  in  which  we  were  forced  to  sit 
was  very  tiring.  I  had  dropped  asleep  at  intervals  ;  but 
at  I  o'clopk  in  the  night  the  sharp  ring  of  our  conductor's 
bugle  warned  us  to  be  ready  for  the  station  ;  and,  shortly 
after,  our  six  horses  drew  up,  panting,  under  the  lamp 
that  stood  at  the  porch.  A  singular  sight  met  the  eye. 
Scattered  all  about  the  open  space  around  us,  with  no 
more  order  than  is  observed  by  the  fowls  in  a  farmyard, 
were  twenty  or  thirty  coaches,  omnibuses,  telegas,  and 
wagons,  which  had  here  been  exchanged  for  sledges. 
The  snow  was  driving  fiercely  ;  and  a  bustling  throng  of 
passengers,  drivers,  guards,  stable-boys,  and  others,  with 
several  teams  of  horses  just  being  taken  out  or  put  in. 


A    FELLOW-TRAVELLER  131 

made  up  the  picture— the  flitting  to  and  fro  of  the  sharp- 
peaked  bashliks  (head-dresses)  giving  it  a  strangely  weird 
and  goblin  look.  '  The  struggling  moonbeam's  misty  light* 
shone  through  the  storm,  and  the  jingle  of  sledge  bells 
mingled  with  the  rush  of  the  mountain  blast  and  the 
voices  of  the  men. 

"The  poor  old  Jew  was  standing  up  in  front  of  our 
carriage  beckoning  for  help,  for  he  was  nearly  frozen, 
and  could  not  get  down  without  assistance.  Our  con- 
ductor promptly  rendered  it,  lifting  the  old  man  to  the 
ground  as  if  he  had  been  a  baby.  We  held  a  rapid 
council  as  to  what  could  be  done  to  make  him  more 
comfortable,  and  decided,  with  the  assent  of  the  driver 
and  conductor,  that  in  the  re-arrangement  of  the  baggage 
in  the  covered  sledge,  which  was  brought  alongside,  part 
of  it  could  be  stowed  outside,  so  as  to  make  room  for  the 
poor  old  man  between  us,  inside  ;  for  the  coldest  part  of 
the  journey  was  yet  to  come,  and  would  last  many  hours. 
Everybody  fell  in  with  the  suggestion,  which  was  at  once 
carried  out. 

"  Presently  we  were  summoned  to  take  our  places ; 
but  the  fatigue  had  been  too  much — I  was  beginning  to 
feel  ill,  and  hastily  groping  in  a  hand-bag,  I  found  a  bottle 
of  my  medicine— left  at  its  full  strength  for  the  sake  of 
compactness.  There  might  not  be  a  chance  of  repeating 
the  dose  for  some  time,  so  I  took  two,  the  interpreter 
getting  me  some  water  from  the  inn.  The  bugle  sounded, 
and  our  double  team  of  eight  horses  slowly  ploughed  on 
uphill  through  the  deep  snow. 

"*Bist  du  warm,  Vater?'  queried  our  interpreter  of 
the  little  Jew,  as  we  got  fairly  under  weigh.  'Ja,  ich 
danke  ! '  was  the  reply  ;  and  all  subsided  into  the  silence 
that  is  the  last  refuge  of  weariness.  Partly  awake,  partly 
dozing,  hour  after  hour  wore  on.  The  moon  had  set,  but 
the  white  snow  made  the  way  quite  visible  ;  and  when 
we  reached  Goodour,  the  topmost  station,  it  was  hard  to 
I  2 


132  DOUCHETE 

believe  that  daylight  had  not  dawned.  I  had  looked 
forward  with  great  interest  to  the  observations  I  should 
make  at  this  height  of  7957  ft.,  but  fifteen  hours'  contin- 
uous travel,  and  sitting  all  night  in  the  position  of  an 
Egyptian  statue,  unable  even  to  cross  one's  knees,  is  a 
wonderful  damper  to  enthusiasm ;  and  if  the  truth  must  be 
told,  I  had  ceased  to  care  ten  kopeks  whether  I  was 
7000  ft.  above  the  sea  or  70,000  ft.  All  my  aspirations 
had  boiled  down  and  dried  up  into  the  formula,  M  wish 
we  were  at  Tiflis ! ' 

"But  as  the  forenoon  wore  on,  the  weather  grew 
bright  and  sunny,  and  our  spirits  revived  somewhat.  The 
landscape  was  changing  completely,  and  instead  of  the 
gorges  with  walls  that  shut  out  the  world  from  all  sides 
but  the  sky,  we  began  to  have  wide  and  magnificent 
reaches  of  mountain  and  forest,  with  the  exhilaration  of 
speed,  for  we  were  now  driving  downhill  instead  of  up. 
The  heat  of  the  sun  was  thawing  the  snow,  and  now 
and  then  this  gave  way  under  the  sledge,  causing  tre- 
mendous bumps  to  the  occupants. 

*'  In  the  windings  of  the  road  we  often  approached  a 
point,  and  then  receded  from  it,  to  make  another  and 
closer  approach  after;  and  it  was  thus  that,  after  first 
looking  down  upon,  then  nearing,  and  leaving  behind  us 
the  village  of  Douchete,  we  came  back  again  to  it,  but  on 
a  level  below,  and  found  ourselves  at  the  station  where 
we  were  to  quit  the  sledge.  We  stay  for  an  hour,  so  that 
there  is  time  for  a  good  wash  and  a  meal. 

"When  we  are  again  on  the  way,  it  is  in  a  carriage, 
with  more  room  than  we  have  previously  had.  Our 
fellow-passenger,  the  wine-grower,  settles  himself  com- 
fortably, closes  his  eyes,  and  sings  in  a  singular,  wild  kind 
of  chant,  that  interests  me  greatly.  I  do  not  understand  a 
word  of  it — that  *  goes  without  saying ' — but  the  time  itself 
and  the  key,  the  strange  high-pitched  voice  I  had  heard 
before  !      Where  ?    In  the  Jews'  synagogue  at  Frankfort, 


AN  ANCIENT  TUNE  133 

three  years  ago !  No  one  who  heard  that  chant  could 
forget  it,  so  completely  unlike  anything  European.  When 
I  had  had  time  to  reflect  on  this,  it  became  pretty  clear, 
either  that  the  tune  itself  was  Assyrian,  brought  away  by 
the  Jews  from  the  Babylonish  captivity,  or  that  it  was  a 
far  older  one  from  the  times  when  the  ancestors  of  the 
Hebrew  race  had  their  home  with  the  ancestors  of  these 
Georgians  in  Mesopotamia ;  for  here  in  the  Trans-Caucasus 
we  are  close  to  the  head  waters  of  the  Tigris.  Here  are 
Jewish  manners  and  customs  all  around  us  :  why  not 
tunes  of  like  antiquity? 

"  '  Was  the  wine  good  at  Douchete  ? '  asked  our  inter- 
preter, suggestively,  of  the  singer.  'Nay,'  he  replied, 
*  it  is  my  heart  that  is  good,  for  I  am  going  home  to  my 
wife  and  children !  '  Then,  eyeing  me,  he  requested  the 
interpreter  to  put  me  a  question  : —  I  had  been  ill  in  the 
middle  of  the  night  and  had  taken  medicine.  Why  had  I 
only  taken  such  a  very  little  ?  What  kind  of  medicine 
was  that  which  could  cure  with  but  a  few  drops  ? 

'"Tell  him,'  said  I,  'that  the  doctor  who  made  that 
medicine  made  it  very  strong,  so  that  I  might  carry  it 
in  little  space.'  The  Georgian  was  pleased  at  such  an 
evidence  of  skill  among  foreigners.  He  had  asked  me  in 
the  night  whether  I  was  better,  and  I  told  him  I  had 
perfectly  recovered.  This  conversation  we  had  carried 
on  without  the  medium  of  the  interpreter  ;  and  the  vocabu- 
lary, which  was  in  Russian,  was  as  follows  : — 

"  Leaning  towards  me,  he  said  in  a  tender,  querying 
tone  of  voice,  '  KarsLshaw  V  '  Da ! '  I  replied,  in  a  firm, 
confident  tone—'  KaraSHAW  !  '  (All  right  ?  Yes,  all  right!) 
After  reflecting  on  the  wonder  of  my  medicine,  he  said, 
'  I  also  was  ill.  My  head  was  bad.  I  rubbed  it  with 
snow.     It  is  karashaw  !  ' 

"  Our  little  Jew  was  also  '  karashaw.'  His  name  was 
Abraham  Saloman,  age  eighty-two.  He  was  formerly 
regimental  cap-maker  to  the  dragoons.     He  had  lived  in 


134  LEAVING  THE  MOUNTAINS 

the  Caucasus  ever  since  he  was  a  boy,  and  had  journeyed 
four  times  through  this  pass  in  the  course  of  sixty  or 
seventy  years.  He  remembers  Schamyl  very  well :  a 
very  decent  kind  of  man.  He  was  never  robbed  by  him ; 
but  knew  numbers  of  people  that  had  been  made  to  give 
up  their  *  Schatz '  in  these  mountains.  The  road  in  old 
times  was  very  bad— a  foot  wide  in  some  places.  There 
are  two  crosses  erected  in  different  places  of  the  way. 
One,  not  far  from  Tiflis,  where  the  Emperor  Nicholas's 
carriage  was  upset ;  one  at  the  top  of  the  pass  he  is  not 
quite  sure  about,  believes  it  was  put  up  in  alter  Zeit  to 
record  that  the  Gosudar  (Emperor)  that  then  was,  had 
stopped  at  that  spot  to  curse  the  road  ! 

"  Gently  down  hill  for  hour  after  hour,  with  but  little 
intermission,  past  beautiful  sweeps  of  forest,  till  in  the 
evening  we  have  reached  the  plain  at  Tsikane,  1831  feet 
above  the  sea,  with  only  thirty-four  more  versts  between 
us  and  Tiflis.  Great  traffic  still  marks  the  road  ;  timber 
wagons,  farmers'  carts,  buffaloes — all  obliged  to  move  on 
one  side  of  the  way,  at  the  summons  of  our  bugle,  for  we 
represent  the  Imperial  power  in  so  far  as  our  carriage  and 
horses  belong  to  the  Government  service.  At  five  in  the 
evening  we  stop  for  our  last  relay,  the  four  now  being 
spanned  making  exactly  sixty  horses  we  have  used  since 
starting  from  Vladikafkas. 

"  Mtzkheti,  the  station,  is  a  pretty  spot.  Within  a 
hundred  yards  of  it  we  double  round  by  the  railway  from 
Batoum,  with  a  long  petroleum  train  on  it,  and  close  to  it 
the  river  Koura,  dashing  along  between  deep  cliffs.  We 
shall  run  near  it  all  the  rest  of  the  way  to  Tiflis — twenty 
and  a  half  versts— where  we  shall  hope  to  rest,  while 
it  flows  on  to  the  Caspian. 

. "  After  a  while  the  distant  lights  of  a  great  city  become 
visible  among  the  environing  mountains  ;  for  though  we 
are  in  a  plain,  it  is  of  no  great  width — and  the  hills  beyond 
it  seem  endless.     Lost  now  and  then,  to  reappear  a  little 


ARRIVAL  AT  TIFLIS  135 

more  distinctly,  at  last  they  show  grandly  on  the  steep 
slope,  reaching  away  for  a  long  distance.  We  drop  to  a 
slow  walk  as  our  horses  climb  a  steep  hill — then  gallop 
down  a  steep  ;  up  again ;  and  we  are  in  a  wide  street  of 
the  city,  at  our  *  Stantzie.' 

"  The  Georgian  has  yet  sixty  versts  to  go,  but  he  has 
determined  to  post  it  at  once  ;  and,  as  he  leaves  our 
carriage,  he  gives  each  of  us  a  shake  of  the  hand.  I 
thought  he  had  cut  my  finger  with  the  crush  he  gave 
it  against  his  diamond  ring.  But  he  is  gone,  and  Abraham 
Saloman  is  gone — and  we  drive  gently  down  one  more 
hill  to  the  Hotel  London,  where  for  days  and  nights  our 
limbs  ached  away  the  effects  of  the  thirty  hours'  riding 
through  the  Great  Barrier  of  Asia. 

"  Two  days  after  our  arrival,  our  interpreter  and  I  were 
in  the  street  in  which  the  post-office  stands,  when  we  sud- 
denly came  upon  our  old  fellow-traveller,  the  Jew.  The 
dear  old  man  was  delighted.  '  Oh,'  he  said,  '  I've  been 
telling  my  wife  what  good  people  I  met  with  on  my 
journey,  that  took  me  inside  and  kept  me  warm,  and  gave 
me  hot  tea  at  the  Stantzie.  And  she  and  I  have  wished 
that  you  may  live  to  five  times  your  present  age  /'  The 
old  man  has  since  been  twice  to  see  us  at  the  hotel,  and 
he  is  going  to  show  us  the  synagogue  on  Seventh-day 
morning." 


CHAPTER  Vm. 

INCIDENTS  OF  STAY  AT  TIFLIS 

JOSEPH  NEAVE  and  his  companion  were  unavoidably 
detained  in  Tiflis  for  a  month,  and  they  therefore  had 
an  excellent  opportunity  of  becoming  acquainted 
with  the  city  and  its  life.  The  selection  here  given  from 
John  Bellows'  letters  to  his  wife  will  give  some  idea  of 
their  impressions  and  experiences  there.  During  their 
stay  they  found  a  comfortable  home  at  the  H6tel  London, 
which  they  made  their  head-quarters. 

To  his  Wife. 

Tiflis,  31-12-92. 

"Here  I  am  continually  reminded  of  the  line  in  Tasso, 
where  the  knight  is  about  to  fell  the  enchanted  myrtle : 
'  At  every  strange  new  turn  some  strange  new  wonder  sees,' 
and  it  is  impossible  for  my  pen  to  overtake  the  im- 
pressions that  follow  one  another  in  such  rapid  succession 
in  this  marvellous  Eastern  city !  The  sights  and  sounds 
and  suggestions  of  the  walk  through  the  Armenian  and 
Persian  bazaars  yesterday  afternoon,  kept  me  awake  for 
most  of  the  night.     *    -^^     ^ 

' '  The  sunbeams  of  summer  are  shining  on  me  as  I 
write,  for  it  is  a  lovely  summer  day  and  nothing  less.  I 
hope  and  believe  summer  days  are  near  at  hand  for  the 
dear  people  here  in  bonds,  after  their  long  and  sore 
winter.  They  have  some  of  them  given  up  all  hope  for 
this  life  ;  but  the  Master  for  whom  they  have  suffered  the 
loss  of  all  things  will  not  fail  of  His  promise,  even  in  this 
life !  " 


BAZAARS   OF  TIFLIS  137 

To  his   Wife, 

TiFLis,  3-1-93- 

"  The  strangest  of  all  sights  in  Tiflis  are  the  bazaars. 
Turning  down  the  street  of  silversmiths,  if  one  stops  a 
moment  to  look  at  a  bit  of  filigree-work,  a  pane  pops 
open  and  out  comes  the  silversmith's  head  within  six 
inches  of  one's  own,  with  *  Pazhalst '  (Walk  in,  please.) 
They  ask  about  two  or  three  times  the  price  of  the  articles 
they  sell :  gradually  coming  down.  The  last  bid  of  the 
customer  is  declined  as  an  impossible  and  utterly  un- 
reasonable thing — then  the  customer  takes  his  leave :  and 
just  as  he  reaches  the  next  door,  the  man  peeps  out  and 
says  in  a  resigned-to-the-will-of- Allah  tone,  '  Pazhalst ' 
(Please  take  it  at  that  figure !  ) 

"No  sooner  are  we  past  the  silver- workers,  than  the 
Jews  are  at  their  doors— or  rather  at  their  fronts,  for 
there  are  no  doors  except  where  valuables  have  to  be 
protected — trying  to  sell  me  a  paletot^  inasmuch  as  the 
day  being  warm  I  am  in  my  ordinary  coat  only.  A  maker 
of  bright  weapons  and  tambourines  on  the  opposite  side, 
has  caught  Joseph  Neave's  eye,  and  is  gesticulating  and 
earnest  to  sell  him  a  24-inch  dagger,  touching  the  edge 
with  his  thumb  to  hint  its  keenness  !  Presently  we  come 
upon  an  old  man  in  a  chimney-pot.  *  Why,  that's  a 
European  hat !  '  says  Joseph  Neave  to  me,  in  surprise. 
The  wearer,  who  is  a  Jew,  takes  it  off  at  once  and  bows 
to  J.  N.  with  a  speech  in  a  humble  tone  which  we  do  not 
understand.  I  can  only  guess  that  he  has  taken  our 
friend  for  some  Russian  official  who  is  offended  at  his 
want  of  respect,  and  that  the  poor  man  is  assuring  his 
High  Excellency  that  he  had  not  seen  him,  or  would 
instantly  have  shown  him  that  reverence  which  is  his  due ! 
Blacksmiths'  shops  with  the  smiths  sitting  down  comfort- 
ably at  their  work,  confectioners,  fruit-dealers,  grocers  — 
all  in  the  open  air,  green-grocer  fashion  —  offer  their 
attractions,  but  are  not  over-pressing.    At  a  dried  frxiit 


138  STREET   SCENES 

place  I  note  lumps  of  chalk  in  a  pan  —  as  big  as  hens' 
eggs.  *  Ask  what  that  is  for,'  I  say  to  Fast,  who  interprets 
accordingly.  *  It  is  milk  f  'Milk!  what  animal's  milk 
is  it?'  'It  is  the  milk  of  cows,  dried.  Would  the 
Gospodin  like  to  buy  some  ? '  The  Gospodin  says  '  Nietf 
with  such  energy  that  the  question  is  not  repeated. 

"We  cross  the  narrow  street,  hopping  from  one  high 
cobble  to  another.  A  horse  passes,  with  two  disgusting- 
looking  greeny  wet  skins  distended  :  each  skin  squirting 
a  fine  spray  of  water  about  a  yard  long,  at  anyone  who 
has  a  mind  to  get  in  the  way.  As  for  Joseph  Neave,  I 
don't  know  what  he  is  doing.  I  back  out  of  the  horse's 
track,  getting  out  of  tune  with  Eastern  manners  and 
customs  ;  or  rather  customs,  for  of  manners  there  is  not 
the  faintest  trace ! 

"  Recollect  that  the  street  is  very  narrow — the  shape  of 
one's  forefinger  in  the  act  of  beckoning:  that  a  steep 
by-street  like  one  of  the  back  lanes  in  Falmouth,  comes 
into  it  at  the  knuckle  :  that  the  width  of  each  street  varies 
with  every  house  :  that  no  house  or  anything  else  in  the 
place  is  square  :  that  the  pavement  is  two  feet  wide  in 
some  parts  and  three  in  others — reduced  to  ten  inches  by 
all  sorts  of  obstructions,  and  that  to  keep  hopping  up  and 
down  from  it  to  avoid  these,  means  getting  in  the  way  of 
people  who  stand  from  one  to  two  feet  lower  ;  for  the  path 
goes  up  and  down  at  every  yard !  Look  at  this  woman 
coming  with-  the  baby  !  Decide  in  one  moment  whether 
to  have  that  baby  rubbed  against  one's  coat  with  all  but 
the  certainty  that  it  has  the  measles ;  or  step  off  into  that 
pool  of  liquid  mud  ! 

"'Ding,  ding,  ding,'  I  heard  at  a  little  distance,  but 
paid  no  attention  to  it— for  seven  donkeys  had  come  round 
the  corner  laden  with  charcoal,  and  so  laden  that  each 
donkey  formed  a  sort  of  imitation  camel.  As  these 
animals  have  no  idea  of  method,  they  spread  all  across 
the  street  in  loose  marching  order,  one  of  them  putting  me 


BLIND  MAN  139 

to  the  instant  alternative  of  letting  him  charcoal  my  coat 
on  the  left,  or  else  of  my  rubbing  it  on  the  right  against 
the  bloody  neck  of  a  sheep  whose  carcase  swung 
pendulum- wise  from  a  butcher's  shop.  By  a  sharp  skip  I 
avoided  both  Scylla  and  Charybdis,  and  then  stepped  into 
a  shop  space  to  let  a  blind  man  pass,  who  being  stout  of 
person  took  up  the  available  foot-path— vaguely  extending 
his  hands  on  each  side  in  advance  of  him,  and  holding  his 
forehead  back  to  catch,  it  might  be,  some  gleam  of  the 
blessed  light  of  which  in  this  bazaar  there  was  none  too 
much  for  those  who  had  eyes.  A  rogue  of  a  boy  (all  boys 
are  rogues)  gave  him  a  bump  for  the  pleasure  of  seeing 
him  waggle — which  he  did,  and  then  recovered  his 
balance.  Two  dromedaries  at  this  instant  hove  in  sight, 
carrying,  as  I  thought,  the  stock-in-trade  of  a  rag-merchant. 
Like  the  donkeys,  they  were  lacking  in  their  order  of 
march  ;  going  skew- wise,  and  justifying  their  title  of  *  the 
ship  of  the  desert  *  by  rolling  about  as  if  they  were  at  sea. 
Instantly  an  angry  shouting  and  clang  of  bell  came  from 
behind.  I  turned,  and  there  was  a  tram-car  swinging 
round  the  corner,  loaded  with  Armenians,  Turks,  ladies, 
officers,  and  I  know  not  what  besides,  all  nearly  brought 
to  a  dead  stand  by  the  dromedaries,  which  looked  scared 
out  of  their  wits,  and  which  were  hauled  out  of  the  way 
with  guttural  objurgations  I  could  not  follow.  The  fact 
was  that  the  mud  had  so  hidden  the  tram  line  that  I  had  no 
idea  there  was  one  there  at  all ! 

"  Of  the  bakers'  shops  I  have  no  space  to  speak,  but  I 
hope  to  tell  you  some  very  interesting  things  about  them 
when  I  get  home.  Also  about  decayed  fish  !  One  thing 
I  note  in  the  fruitshops  is,  very  large  boxes  of  walnuts— I 
think  I  cwt.  each  — already  shelled!  As  they  use  no 
machinery  for  cracking  them,  I  would  rather  not  buy 
them  so ! 

*'  This  morning  J.  J.  Neave  and  I  took  a  short  walk  up 
the  hill  in  front  of  the  hotel  to  the  little  chapel  that  stands 


140  THE  CORNISH   SHOVEL 

so  picturesquely  in  the  steep  side  of  it.  The  view  thence 
of  the  city  is  very  striking.  As  we  look  down  on  the  sea 
of  roofs,  we  note  a  singular  commingling  of  red  and  green ; 
for  a  great  many  of  them  are  painted  a  pale  verdigris 
green.  This  I  have  no  doubt  is  an  imitation  of  the  actual 
verdigris  when  roofs  of  public  buildings  were  really  made 
of  copper.  There  are  mines  of  the  metal  in  the  district, 
and  I  hope  we  may  come  across  some  of  them. 

"  One  singular  thing  here  is  the  use  of  the  long  Cornish 
shovel !  Directly  after  the  tram-car  and  dromedaries  had 
got  out  of  the  part  of  the  bazaar  I  describe,  one  of  the 
shopkeepers  came  out  to  remove  some  of  the  mud  from 
before  his  own  premises.  This  he  did  by  shovelling  it 
with  one  of  these  long-hilted  shovels,  over  to  his 
neighbours'  parts  of  the  street,  right  and  left !  In  the 
process  a  cobble  came  up  on  the  shovel— displaced  by  one 
of  the  tram-horses  or  dromedaries  or  donkeys :  a  stone 
four  or  five  lbs.  in  weight.  He  hurled  it  across  the  street  to 
be  rid  of  it,  and  it  struck  the  margin  of  the  footpath  close 
by  me. 

*'  I  could  not  help  thinking,  several  times,  that  

might  fill  a  large  book  here  with  designs  of  fretwork,  etc. 
from  the  balconies !  They  are  exceedingly  pretty.  In 
summer  in  the  best  houses  some  of  these  balconies  are 
curtained ;  and  they  must  be  very  pleasant  as  a  change 
from  indoors. 

"  Tell  the  children  I  saw  a  grand  sight  this  morning  :  an 
eagle  sailing  down  from  the  Caucasus  mountains  over  the 
city  of  Tiflis.  He  might  have  been  a  quarter  of  a  mile  off, 
at  an  angle  :  not  perpendicularly  above  us.  He  looked  as  if 
his  wings  spread  out  five  feet  or  so,  but  of  course  I  could 
not  say  exactly  what  the  span  was. 

**He  would  give  five  slow  heaves  with  his  pinions,  and 
that  sailed  him  on  for  a  long  distance— then  five  or  six 
beats  more — and  a  slow  wheeling  round  as  if  he  were 
making  a  curve  to  see  what  was  worth  while  swooping  on 


A   GOOD   INVENTION  141 

below.  He  would  be  sure  not  to  swoop  in  the  city 
however ;  and  we  passed  behind  some  tall  buildings,  and 
lost  sight  of  him  as  he  was  nearly  over  the  Eastern  or 
Asian  Gate.  He  was  by  far  the  largest  bird  I  have  ever 
seen  on  the  wing.     It  was  a  grand  and  beautiful  sight !  " 

To  his  Wife. 

TiFLIS,  11-1-93. 

"  The  editor  of  the  '  Kavkas  '  travelled  through  Central 
Asia  just  after  that  young  American  had  gone  through  on 
a  bicycle.  It  was  the  absorbing  topic  of  conversation. 
The  Tartars  generally  thought  well  of  it.  They  said  a 
steel  horse  that  eats  nothing  was  a  good  invention.  A 
Persian  blacksmith  who  had  examined  it  carefully  said  '  he 
believed  he  could  make  a  thing  like  that ! ' 

**  Of  the  train  at  Samarcand,  they  think  highly.  The 
Europeans,  say  they,  can  invent  anything  except  a  soul ! 
The  fact  is  the  Asiatics  are  younger  brothers  in  the  great 
family;  we  are  the  elder,  mentally." 

To  his  Wife. 
TiFLis,  New  Year's  Day,  O.S.,  1 3-1-93. 
"  We  went  to  the  Mosque,  under  the  guidance  of  our 
Persian,  who  goes  under  the  Russian  name  of  Samedoff. 
The  building  stands  in  the  most  crowded  part  of  the 
bazaar,  close  to  a  branch  of  the  Koura  river;  and  the 
throng  of  donkeys,  traders,  carriages,  porters  and  camels 
beat  anything  I  had  yet  seen.  Diving  off  the  narrow  side 
walk  into  the  mud  to  cross  the  way,  I  got  among  a  tangle 
of  all  these  and  had  to  bow  my  head  to  keep  out  of  the 
way  of  a  camel  that  approached  at  the  head  of  a  file  of 
the  same  species — some  chewing  the  cud — some  making 
bitter  unearthly  noises  :  this  front  animal  especially,  right 
over  my  head.  Slipping  and  tripping  as  best  I  could,  I 
got  behind  a  butcher's  cart,  with  disgusting  elements  in  it, 
and  found  a    lot  of   freshly-stripped    skins,    flesh    side 


142  VISIT  TO  A  MOSQUE 

uppermost,  covering  the  footpath  all  but  the  tiniest  edge. 
To  step  upon  them  was  to  feel  the  whole  mass  slide  like  a 
fluid,  but  I  just  managed  to  escape.  I  don't  know  what  it 
is  that  charms  one  in  all  this  disgusting  mass ;  but  in  spite 
of  these  sights,  and  a  stench  dangerous  to  health,  I  go 
every  time,  fascinated ! 

"  'Ask  how  much  camels  like  these  carry?*  said  I  to 
Fast.  '  Fifteen  poods  '  was  the  interpreted  reply ;  and  I 
feel  sure  they  did  bear  that  weight.  They  stalk  along,  six, 
or  eight,  or  ten  tied  one  behind  another,  squelching  the 
mud  with  their  great  pads  of  feet,  and  gazing  mildly  about 
them,  with  large,  very  expressive  eyes ;  ostentatiously 
chewing  the  cud  with  a  lateral  motion  of  the  lower  jaws, 
of  several  inches — on  the  whole  very  interesting  creatures. 

*'  A  narrow  door  by  the  side  of  the  principal  one,  led  to 
the  women's  gallery  of  the  Mosque.  Up  a  step  or  two 
and  along  a  narrow  dark  passage  or  gangway,  and  we 
came  into  a  vaulted  building  of  three  centuries  old, 
irregular  in  form.  Stepping  down  a  step  or  two,  we  peep 
over  a  low  wooden  railing ;  and  there,  nine  feet  below  us, 
is  a  floor  covered  with  Persian  rugs.  A  sort  of  stairs, 
really  a  pulpit,  stands  at  the  east  end ;  above  it  in  white 
or  gold  letters  (Arabic)  on  an  azure  ground,  texts  from 
the  Koran.  Half  a  dozen  Persians  and  Tartars  are  at 
prayer,  down  on  all  fours ;  now  and  then  bending  a  little 
till  their  foreheads  touch  the  carpet.  It  was  rather  an 
impressive  sight.  I  ventured  to  ask  the  Persian,  who 
was  with  us,  whether  a  camera  would  be  allowed  in  the 
building  when  no  worship  was  going  on.  He  asked  the 
muezzin  who  stood  by ;  the  muezzin  said  he  kept  the  keys, 
and  he  would  let  us  in  with  a  camera  to  the  same  gallery. 
Forty  kopeks  gladdened  the  good  man,  and  as  we  were 
leaving,  he  asked  if  we  would  like  to  go  up  to  the  gallery 
in  the  tower  from  whence  he  calls  the  faithful  to  prayers. 
We  said  *yes' ;  and  he  showed  us  a  z^^ry  narrow  staircase, 
by  far  the  narrowest  I  ever  got  into.     It  was  literally  a 


ABRAHAM  SALOMAN  143 

snail's  spiral ;  for  as  we  took  each  step  up,  our  bent  backs 
slid  against  the  smooth  ceiling,  rounded  to  fit  them. 

"  The  muezzin  had  crept  up  after  us  to  warn  us  not  to 
try  and  descend  face  first,  but  to  back  down,  as  in 
descending  a  ladder.  Again  fitting  fairly  tight  into  the 
spiral  tube,  we  got  down  backwards  ;  but  a  fat  man  would 
have  stuck  there  in  the  pitch  darkness,  and  been  in  a  very 
serious  position. 

"  In  the  market-place  we  met  an  ^tape — that  is,  a  gang 
of  perhaps  twenty  manacled  prisoners,  under  a  guard  of 
twelve  soldiers.  The  street  was  steep  ;  and  it  was  a  new 
and  painful  sight  to  see  this  throng  of  grey- clad  men,  and 
to  hear  the  heavy  clank  of  their  irons  as  they  marched 
past :  twelve  bayonets  gleaming  in  and  out  among  them. 
We  could  not  ascertain  who  or  what  they  were ;  no  one 
would  say. 

"  We  called  at  the  smith's  and  watched  the  forging  of 
one  of  the  tiny  shovels  he  has  made  for  me,  and  for  which 
I  paid  him  50  kopeks  each.  Another  smith  is  making  me 
a  tiny  pick.  These  are  the  originals  of  the  tools  used  in 
Cornwall  and  in  Germany. 

"  Opposite  the  smith's  shop,  the  road  runs  up,  very 
steep;  and  a  little  dark-eyed  Georgian  had  brought  a 
sledge  about  two  feet  long,  home-made,  and  was  having 
a  grand  time,  when  the  gardevoi  (policeman)  pounced  on 
him  and  took  away  the  sledge.  The  Httle  fellow  lifted  up 
his  voice  and  wept  sore,  the  big  tears  dropping  down  his 
little  round  face ;  when  we  pleaded  for  him.  The 
gardevoi  was  good-natured,  and  gave  him  back  the 
sledge;  but  let  him  be  sufficiently  scared  to  keep  him 
from  breaking  the  legs  of  Tartars  and  Armenians  who 
have  to  use  the  road. 

"I  said  the  other  day  that  our  old  friend  Abraham 
Saloman  was  going  to  take  us  to  the  synagogue.  His 
nephew  scared  him  out  of  it ;  and  one  can  hardly  wonder, 
now  that  the  Jews  are  so  fearfully  persecuted.     When  the 


144  STREET  PHOTOGRAPHY 

worthy  old  man  told  him  he  was  going  to  bring  us  to  the 
synagogue,  he  said,  '  What  for  ?  What  do  you  know 
about  these  people  ?  They  are  travellers  ;  and  you  don't 
know  what  they  are  here  for.  When  I  asked  them  what 
they  came  to  trade  in,  they  told  me  they  were  not  here  to 
trade  at  all!  Don't  listen  to  them.  You  just  let  them 
alone  ! '  The  old  man,  notwithstanding,  feels  kindly  to  us, 
and  has  come  repeatedly  to  see  us :  wishes  now  that  he 
had  taken  us  to  the  synagogue  without  saying  anything 
about  it  to  anybody ! 

"  I  have  got  a  photographer  to  take  me  some  special 
views;  things  that  the  Tiflis  public  care  nothing  about, 
but  which  will  be  of  great  interest  in  England.  Some  of 
the  scenes  attendant  on  our  round  with  the  camera  were 
quite  exciting.  I  was  specially  wishing  to  get  one  of  the 
large  ox-skins  of  wine  in  ;  and  some  Georgians  of  whom 
we  were  asking  about  the  best  spot  to  get  at  it  from, 
suggested  bringing  one  out  into  the  street.  Recollect  it  is 
New  Year's  day,  old  style,  and  vast  numbers  of  people 
are  en  fete.  Some  brought  out  the  hide ;  and  instantly  a 
throng  began  to  collect,  which  in  five  minutes  numbered 
over  a  hundred.  Everybody  was  commenting  or  giving 
advice  in  Persian,  Arabic,  Armenian,  Georgian,  Russian, 
Turkish  and  a  host  of  languages  and  dialects  perfectly 
bewildering !  I  don't  wonder  the  masons  stopped  work 
in  Babel  when  the  like  thing  occured.  An  old  beggar,  in 
the  wildest  state  of  raggedness,  was  hauled  in,  presented 
with  ten  kopeks,  and  made  to  sit  down.  The  garde voi 
forced  back  the  motley  throng,  though  he  could  not  silence 
it,  and  made  a  large  ring  for  the  photographer,  till  the 
'  click '  of  the  instrument  told  all  was  over. 

''  Dr.  Haudelin  has  been  telling  me  that  in  the  Caucasus 
sixty  different  languages  are  spoken;  many  of  them 
not  yet  classed  by  scientific  men  as  to  their  stock  or 
origin.  One  tribe  seems  to  be  descended  from  German 
Crusaders ! 


VISIT  TO  A  SYNAGOGUE  145 

"  The  stream  that  runs  under  the  hotel  window,  and  of 
which  I  have  a  capital  fresh  photo  this  morning,  with  a 
ferry  boat  crossing  it— the  river  KtJR— is  in  all  probability, 
Dr.  Haudelin  tells  me,  the  one  which  gives  the  name  to 
CYRUS  (Kuros.)  In  the  steppes  between  the  KCr*  and 
the  Araxes  there  are  the  ruins  of  seven  large  cities,  and 
remains  of  aqueducts  that  supplied  them. 

To  his   Wife. 

TiFLIS,    I4-I-93. 

"Our  old  friend  Abraham  Saloman  came  to  take  us, 
after  all,  to  the  synagogue.  He  had  taken  the  matter  into 
his  own  hands  and  determined  to  act  independently  of  his 
nephew's  opposition  to  us  as  '  travellers  '—here  to-day 
and  gone  to-morrow ;  and  suspicious  because  we  came 
neither  to  buy  nor  sell ! 

"  Fifteen  minutes'  walk  through  the  frosty  streets,  in  the 
bright  sunshine,  brought  us  to  a  back  street  in  which  stand 
two  synagogues  :  one  the  '  military,'  the  other  known  as 
the  '  Spanish.'  Abraham  led  us  to  the  former.  We 
entered  a  room  about  half  the  size  of  the  synagogue  at 
Frankfort  —  longer  in  form  ;  with  a  raised  platform  railed 
off  in  the  centre,  standing  about  a  yard  higher  than  the 
floor,  and  a  double  aisle  passing  on  either  side  of  it.  At 
the  further  end  was  a  desk  on  another  raised  platform, 
under  a  canopy — so  placed  that  the  reader's  back  is 
towards  the  congregation.  On  the  desk  is  a  seven- 
branched  candlestick,  like  the  one  shown  in  the  arch  of 
Titus  ;  and  at  the  back,  in  the  wall,  a  curtained  cupboard 
containing  the  roll  of  the  law.  A  passage  of  Scripture  in 
Hebrew  stands  above  this.  Opposite  me  was  a  little  boy 
who  contributed  his  full  share  to  the  success  of  the  service 
by  his  Ah — men  !  at  the  top  of  his  treble  voice.  It  was 
to  me  marvellously  interesting.  Many  nationalities  were 
represented ;  but  the  majority  were  Asiatic  Jews,  black- 
eyed,      dark-featured,     and     wearing     the     Gruzinsky 

J  *  Or  Koura. 


146  A  WEIRD   MELODY 

(Georgian)  cap.  Red-bearded  Russian  soldiers  were 
there ;  and  here  and  there  a  European  hat  stood  out 
conspicuous. 

*'  They  were  reciting  their  prayers,  using  books  printed 
in  Hebrew  and  Russian  in  parallel  column.  The  strange 
wild  chant  rose  and  fell  monotonously  ;  and  swelled  into 
chorus  in  which  my  little  friend  and  the  children  through- 
out the  building  made  their  voices  dominant,  and  then 
their  'Ah— men ./' 

"  Abraham  touched  me  on  the  shoulder  and  pointed  to 
the  gallery  over  the  back  of  a  room  ;  a  hollow  semicircle 
not  open  as  at  Frankfort,  but  closely  veiled  with  muslin 
curtains — saying  half  in  German,  half  in  Russian,  that  it 
was  for  the  Zhenskian  (nearly  like  the  English  word 
'  gentian  ') — i.e. ,  the  women's  gallery.  I  noticed  several 
furtive  liftings  of  the  curtains,  and  peeps  of  the  Zhenskian 
on  the  scene  below ;  partly  prompted,  doubtless,  by 
curiosity  at  the  presence  of  the  European  Gentiles  near 
the  reading  desk,  and  wonder  what  the  Rabbi  might  be 
saying  to  one  of  the  three — for  he  had  stepped  up  behind 
me  and  said, '  Sprechen  Sie  deutsch?  Quelle  langue  parlez- 
vous?'  'Anglais  et  un  peu  de  franpais,'  I  replied— and 
he  went  on  to  chat  a  little  about  the  service ;  seeming 
interested  at  hearing  that  I  had  been  in  the  synagogue  at 
Frankfort. 

"Long  rose  and  fell  the  weird  strange  melody— for  I 
must  so  describe  it,  though  musical  it  could  hardly  be 
called— now  loud,  now  low,  now  a  wail ;  and  now  a 
monotone  song.  Was  it  worship?  I  cannot  lightly 
undertake  to  say  how  far  or  how  far  not.  I  remembered 
Charles  Lamb's  excellent  description  of  the  Quakers' 
meeting,  in  which  in  some  of  the  faces  he  could  detect 
nothing  but  '  blank  inanity ; '  and  others  on  which  *  the 
dove  sat  visibly  brooding.'  A  man  past  the  prime  of  life 
sat  facing  me  in  the  next  seat  but  one,  with  his  hood  drawn 
over  his  silvering  hair — with  a  very  sweet  and  serious 


KISSING  THE  ROLL  147 

face.  As  I  looked  at  him  I  could  not  but  feel  that  he  was 
really  drawing  nigh  unto  God,  and  realising  the  promise 
that  God  would  draw  nigh  unto  him.  I  felt  strongly  in 
sympathy  with  him;  and  as  I  glanced  round  on  the 
shrouded  figures  in  other  parts  of  the  room  and 
remembered  that  some  of  them  came  from  distant  lands, 
and  some  not  far  from  the  plains  in  which  their  fathers 
had  been  so  wonderfully  favoured  in  other  days,  it  was 
difficult  to  keep  back  tears  at  the  sight,  and  the  sound  of 
the  names  *  Ah-bra-ham,  Ee-sak,  Ya-kob,'  that  came  out 
in  part  of  the  service. 

*'By  and  by  the  reader  desisted;  the  curtains  were 
drawn  from  the  depository  of  the  law,  and  the  roll  was 
lifted  out  and  kissed  by  one  after  another  as  it  was  borne 
to  the  central  platform.  Six  or  seven  men  stood  round  it, 
the  Rabbi,  more  European  in  costume  than  I  was  (for  I 
wear  the  shapka  here,)  in  one  corner.  The  covering  was 
taken  off,  reverently,  and  the  roll  moved  till  the  portion 
for  the  day  was  reached— it  is  a  double  roll— when  the 
Elder  stood  with  a  silver  pointer,  tracing  along  the 
Hebrew  text,  as  the  reader  proceeded,  from  a  book  held 
in  his  hand.  '  What  part  is  he  reading  ? '  said  I  to 
Abraham.  '  I  don't  know,'  replied  the  old  man  in 
German.  '  It  is  in  the  old  Sprache  that  I  do  not  under- 
stand ! ' 

"  Several  individuals  were  summoned  from  the  con- 
gregation to  take  part  in  the  reading.  It  is  not  allowed  to 
the  Rabbi  or  the  Elder  to  stand  there  alone.  Here  comes 
a  young  fellow  of  five  and  twenty,  a  handsome  Georgian 
Jew.  I  see  the  corner  of  one  of  the  '  Zhenskian '  curtains 
lifted,  and  the  flash  of  a  pair  of  spectacles— and  another 
corner— and  the  glance  of  a  pair  of  black  eyes  !  .  .  . 
curtain  dropped ;  owner  of  eyes  noting  Gentile  observation 
possibly !  And  now  came  what  to  me  was  most  of  all 
interesting.  A  young  Russian  soldier  steps  up — light  of 
complexion,  pale  of  face — the  striped  silken  hood  thrown 

J2 


148  JEWISH  WORSHIPPERS 

over  his  grey  uniform  and  military  cap,  the  brass  Russian 
letter  and  number  of  his  regiment  shining  in  the  opening. 
Throwing  his  hood  well  back  he  chants  out  the  Hebrew 
in  strong  clear  fashion,  as  if  his  heart  was  in  the  work. 
No  curtain  is  lifted  for  him  !  He  comes  with  his  regiment 
from  far  away  to  serve  in  the  Caucasus,  to  serve  his  five 
and  twenty  years  in  the  army,  and  then  be  cast  out  of 
home  and  country  by  the  country  he  has  served.— But  no. 
It  will  not  be  so.  The  New  Year  has  opened  in  the  out- 
ward world  with  sunshine  and  beauty  ;  and  it  will  even  be 
so  for  the  persecuted  Jew  and  Christian  in  Russia. 
Brighter  days  will  come. 

"  The  Jew  in  the  corner,  whose  sweet  serious  face  had 
so  attracted  me,  left  his  seat,  and  came  and  shook  hands 
with  me.  Neither  of  us  spoke,  for  we  both  knew  it  would 
be  in  vain  ;  but  I  need  not  say  I  was  delighted  with  this 
spontaneous  mark  of  friendly  feeling. 

"  The  congregation  turned  to  another  part  of  the  book 
and  began  a  fresh  reading.  It  was  the  prayer  for  the 
Emperor.  An  old  man  took  the  lead  in  the  rest  of  the 
service,  a  recent  comer  to  Tiflis — a  merchant  millionaire, 
I  was  afterwards  told.  It  was  a  strange  sight  and  sound. 
His  tall  figure  was  shrouded  in  the  hood,  from  where  I 
sat,  except  the  edge  of  his  snow-white  beard,  as  he  swayed 
to  and  fro  with  his  head  bowed  towards  the  candlestick. 

"  We  had  asked  the  old  man  (Abraham)  to  come  and 
take  coffee  with  us.  He  was  waiting  for  us  at  the  door, 
and  begged  us  to  stay  yet  an  instant,  while  he  went  and 
spoke  up  the  women's  stairs.  Presently  an  old  lady  came 
down.  She  was  Sarah,  his  wife  ;  and  she  was  evidently 
greatly  pleased  to  shake  hands  with  the  fellow-traveller  of 
her  husband,  and  to  thank  me  for  our  kindness  to  him.  I 
bade  the  Rabbi  assure  her  '  II  n'y  a  pas  de  quoi  '—which 
was  done — and  we  came  away. 

'*  The  Rabbi  left  us  with  an  invitation  to  come  to  his 
house  this  evening  at  8  o'clock,  when  he  is  going  to  ask 


TIFLIS  BY  NIGHT  149 

some  of  his  friends  to  be  present  also.  The  whole 
interview  was  very  satisfactory  to  my  mind  ;  and  after  it 
was  over,  as  I  took  a  few  moments'  turn  over  the  bridge 
in  the  sunshine,  I  felt  deeply  the  love  of  God  to  all  men— 
and  to  these  His  ancient  people  whose  eyes  are  yet  holden 
that  they  cannot  see  Him  in  His  last  and  most  perfect 
manifestation.  I  will  not  throw  stones  at  them,  however, 
because  they  do  not  see ;  but  I  will  rather,  in  such 
measure  of  the  same  everlasting  love  as  I  am  capable  of, 
take  them  by  the  hand,  if  it  may  be,  to  commend  them  yet 
further  to  cherish  the  knowledge  of  God  they  have  ;  yet 
further  to  obey  His  Spirit  which  saved  Abraham  and  Isaac 
and  Jacob,  and  which  is  able,  notwithstanding  their 
blindness,  to  save  them  also." 

To  his  Wife. 

TiFLis,  iS-i-93- 
"  I  must  not  forget  to  record  one  impression,  now  very 
familiar  to  me :  the  effect  of  the  city  by  night.  The 
nearest  thing  I  know  to  it  is  Falmouth,  after  dark,  as  seen 
from  the  harbour  ;  but  Tiflis  is  like  many  Falmouths  fused 
into  one.  As  I  look  from  my  hotel  window,  the  innumer- 
able lamps  in  the  great  amphitheatre  of  hill  before  me  lead 
on  up  to  and  mingle  with  the  stars  above  them,  and 
suggest  that  element  of  the  vast  and  the  indefinite  which 
is  the  very  foundation  true  poetry  is  built  upon.  In  the 
morning  I  look  up  from  the  gloom  of  the  valley  to  the 
same  hill-side,  and  see  the  sunrise  touching  the  spire  of 
the  chapel-tower  yonder  :  and  then  gilding  some  windows, 
before  the  day  properly  comes  down  into  the  streets. 
Sixteen  evenings  and  mornings  have  come  and  gone  since 
we  came ;  but  the  effect  on  the  mind  is  as  if  I  had  been 
here  for  many  months,  I  am  not  quite  sure  that  I  ought 
not  to  say  'years,'  for  I  never  in  my  life  felt  like  this 
before  in  a  foreign  land ! 

*  *  Our  Persian  of  the  mosque  was  married  yesterday 
morning,  when  his  sister  returned  with  the  wife  she  had 


ISO  A   TARTAR  BRIDE 

been  in  treaty  for  at  Elizabethpol :  neither  she  nor  her 
brother  ever  having  seen  the  young  lady  before.  The 
bride  is  a  girl  of  fourteen,  and  speaks  no  tongue  but 
Tartar :  her  husband,  who  is  thirty,  talking  Persian, 
Russian  and  Tartar,  will  have  to  teach  her.  She  brings 
no  dowry.  On  the  contrary  he  has  to  pay  her  father  and 
mother  a  handsome  sum.  I  was  curious  to  know  what 
kind  of  reception  the  poor  girl  had  ;  and  I  have  fished  out 
from  a  friend  of  the  husband  that  his  comment  on  her  was, 
*  Elle  n' est  pas  mal  f — which  is,  I  take  it,  satisfactory  as 
a  beginning  of  the  new  manage.  This  friend  of  his  thinks 
he  will  have  paid  as  much  as  looo  roubles  to  the  girl's 
family,  for  the  match. 

"  In  the  morning,  just  now,  I  went  out  for  a  good  walk 
alone.  I  went  on  to  the  Botanic  Gardens  at  the  top  of  the 
town  on  this  side.  The  gates  were  closed,  but  the  care- 
taker remembered  my  face  in  connection  with  20  kopeks, 
smiled  a  welcome,  and  let  me  in.  I  had  an  hour's 
undisturbed  walk,  for  there  came  no  further  visitor. 
Getting  back  to  the  hotel  at  one^  thy  letter  arrived  at  the 
same  time  ;  and  as  soon  as  it  was  read  I  had  to  accompany 

my  two  friends  to  the  house  of ,  who  had  asked  us 

to  dine.     About  nine  others  came. 

"  In  the  afternoon  we  had  a  long  conversation,  over  the 
Bible  ;  and  finally  the  27th  Psalm  was  read,  and  we  sat  a 
few  moments  in  silence.  One  of  the  Russians  then  prayed, 
and  was  followed  by  a  young  man  who  had  come  in  late  : 
a  working-man — with  dark  features,  and  densely  black 
hair  and  eyes  — bearing  the  impress  of  a  sweet  spirit  that 
struck  me  much.  It  was  strange  to  hear  the  new  and 
xmknown  sounds  from  his  lips  ;  what  language  he  used  I 
did  not  know,  but  it  was  not  Russian.  It  was  more 
rhythmic,  but  wild-sounding.  I  felt  the  prayer  was  of  the 
true  stamp,  nevertheless,  and  was  greatly  drawn  towards 
the  speaker.  As  we  were  presently  after  at  tea,  I  asked 
Fast  what  countryman  he  was.     '  An  Assyrian  praying  in 


ASSYRIAN  INTONATION  151 

Persian  r  I  should  have  added  that  Joseph  Neave  also 
prayed  with  marked  power.  The  young  Assyrian  drew 
from  his  pocket  a  well-thumbed  Syriac  New  Testament, 
and  I  opened  it  at  Acts,  ii.  8  and  9.  He  read  it  with 
animation — and  made  signs  that  God  was  speaking  to  our 
hearts  Himself." 

To  his  daughter  Marian. 

TiFLis,  18-1-1893. 

"  We  have  just  returned  from  spending  [the  evening] 
with  the  family  of  the  Jew  who  was  so  timid  of  his  uncle's 
bringing  us  to  the  synagogue ;  and  a  very  interesting 
evening  it  has  been. 

*'  I  asked  him  [our  host]  about  the  Hebrew  word  in  the 
20th  verse  of  the  last  chapter  in  Isaiah,  which  is  translated 
*  swift  beasts ' ;  and  again  in  Nahum,  ii.  4.  In  both  these 
cases  he  confirmed  the  idea  IJiad  got  from  some  Hebraists 
(from  the  former  text,)  for  he  said,  suiting  the  action  to 
the  word,  that  it  meant  something  rolling  very  swiftly  on 
wheels: — my  supposition  being  that  the  prophet  in  each 
case  had  the  vision  of  the  railway  train  before  him,  and 
used  the  only  word  that  he  could  find  to  convey  the  idea. 

"  It  also  interested  them  a  good  deal  when  I  told  them 
of  the  Jerusalem  survey  ;  King  Solomon's  waterworks, 
and  the  discovery,  a  few  years  ago,  of  the  inscription  in 
the  tunnel  made  by  Solomon  to  convey  the  water,  the 
form  of  his  mains,  and  so  on. 

"  When  I  mentioned  that  strange  intonation  of  the 
synagogue  service  at  Frankfort,  and  the  way  in  which 
the  Georgian  or  Armenian  singing  struck  me  as  matching 
it,  the  doctor  said  that  he  came  here  to  the  Caucasus  from 
a  distant  place  about  fourteen  years  ago,  and  was  at  once 
struck  with  the  same.  He  thinks  my  suggestion  is  the 
right  one  :  that  the  air  or  motif  is  from  Assyria  at  the 
time  of  the  Babylonian  Captivity.  As  another  Jew  in 
Tiflis  also  confirms  it,  I  think  it  may  be  safely  set  down 
as  probable. 


152  A  JEWISH  FAMILY 

"  At  supper,  several  religious  questions  came  up,  all 
showing  a  solid  interest  in  them,  though  the  father  seemed 
more  worldly  and  less  alive  to  these  things  than  the  rest 
of  the  company ;  and  he  made  some  remark  that  no  doubt 
Joseph  Neave  and  I  had  more  freedom  from  business  cares 
than  he  had— for  a  man  immersed  in  trade  had  not  time 
for  studying  the  Scriptures.  I  asked  him  if,  when  he  was 
courting  his  wife,  he  ever  found  business  hinder  him  from 
writing  to  her.  This  caught  the  attention  of  the  whole 
family,  and  of  course  brought  a  smile  to  the  faces  of  the 
two  daughters.  He  smiled  too,  and  assented  to  my  point. 
'  Now,'  said  I,  '  where  there  is  love,  it  will  make  a  way.'' 
Here  (laying  my  hand  on  the  Hebrew  bible)  is  the  first 
commandment  Moses  gave  you  as  a  people — '  Thou  shalt 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart  and  with  all  thy 
mind  and  with  all  thy  soul.'  If  we  love  Him,  we  shall  not 
only  strive  to  obey  Him  and  keep  His  commandments,  but 
we  shall  be  delighted  to  find  time  to  read  what  He  has 
said;  and  no  business  will  hinder  us.'  They  all  assented 
fully  to  this  ;  and  I  felt  their  hearts  were  open  to  hear  us, 
if  we  spoke  a  language  suited  to  their  position. 

"  The  [eldest]  son  has  a  wonderful  knowledge  of  the 
Scriptures  :  several  times  finding  a  text  before  any  of  the 
rest  of  us,  including  the  doctor,  who  was  very  expert, 
could  do  so.  We  had  been  talking  of  the  Talmud. 
'  There  is  our  Talmud ! '  said  the  father,  pointing  to  the 
lad  with  evident  pride  ! 

' '  I  felt  the  love  of  God  was  very  manifest  to  this  family ; 
and  when  we  rose  to  leave,  this  feeling  was  especially 
strong  towards  the  eldest  son,  and  I  said  :  '  We  feel  very 
grateful  for  all  this  kindness  that  you  have  shown  us 
strangers  in  a  strange  land,  and  we  can  in  return  wish 
you  no  better  wish  than  that  which  is  our  heartfelt  desire  : 
that  you  may  seek  and  find  the  Lord  God  of  your  fathers, 
for  His  promise  is  as  true  to-day  as  in  former  days— They 
that  seek  me  early  shall  find  me  !— and  that  you  may  love 


CAUCASIAN   GOVERNORS  153 

Him  and  serve  Him.'     There  was  a  moment  of  pause  as 

the  interpretation  fell  on  their  ears,  and  the  warm  shake 

of  the  hand  told  that  the  word  was  felt  by  every  one.  The 

eldest  son,  especially,  grasped  my  hand  in  his,  as  if  his 

heart  were  too  full  for  utterance.    They  seemed  unwilling 

to  let  us  go ;  and  insisted  that  we  must  come  and  see  them 

again  when  re-passing  Tiflis  in  a  few  weeks. 

"  We  gleaned  many  details  of  the  unfair  and  wicked 

treatment  to  which  the  Jews  are  subjected  in  Russia  ;  and 

I  have  no  doubt  that  the  knowledge  of  our  endeavour  to 

secure  equal  liberty  for  them  as  for  Christians  helped 

much  to  open  the  door  for  our  conference    with  them. 

They  laid  stress  on  the  inconsistency  of  persecution  with 

the  teaching  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  one  of  them  remarked 

that  the  difference  was  not  great  between  a  real  Christian 

and  a  good  Jew." 

To  his  Wife. 

Tiflis,  26-1-93. 

"  It  is  a  month  to-day  since  we  arrived  at  Tiflis,  but  the 
delay  works  out  for  the  best.  Owing  to  it,  we  are  here  at 
the  period  of  the  annual  conference  of  all  the  local 
governors.  When  we  speak  of  governors  and  governor- 
general,  we  must  not  imagine  such  ranks  as  correspond  to 
Indian  Viceroys  :  for  the  total  population  of  the  Caucasus 
may  be  about  8  millions,  and  that  of  say  the  Government 
of  Elizabethpol  about  %  milHon,  Tiflis  i  million,  and  so  on. 
The  Governor  of  Kutais  has  the  bedroom  next  mine,  and 
a  very  picturesque  '  Ossetin '  tribesman,  armed  to  the 
teeth,  keeps  guard  at  his  door.  His  bosom  is  covered 
with  cartridge  holders,  a  tremendous  dagger  in  his  girdle, 
a  long  sword  dangles  at  his  side,  and  a  good-natured 
smile  plays  on  his  lips.  I  wish  I  could  get  him  photo- 
graphed !  "    *    *    * 

To  his  Wife. 

Tiflis,  27-1-93. 

*'  It  is  still  winterly,  but  not  more  so  than,  if  perhaps  as 

much  as,  in  England.     We  leave  to-morrow  at  mid-day 


154  JOURNEYS  IN  PROSPECT 

for  a  station  called  Daliar,  on  our  east  before  we  come  to 
Elizabethpol— arriving  in  the  evening.  A  team  meets  us 
from  the  Kedabek  copper  mines  ;  and  the  horses  and  we 
rest  all  night.  Then  we  go  to  a  village  and  again  stay 
the  night — and  next  day  are  at  the  mines.  On  the 
morning  after,  we  return  to  Daliar  and  come  by  train  at 
night  to  Elizabethpol,  and  then  to  several  villages  and  the 
little  town  of  Shusha,  where  an  Armenian-Persian 
population  lives  :  i.e.,  Armenians  formerly  under  Persia 
and  speaking  the  Persian  tongue.  From  this  point  to  the 
Caspian,  I  think,  in  ancient  times,  the  country  belonged  to 
Media ;  and  the  River  Ktir,  on  which  our  hotel  looks  at 
the  back,  belonged  to  the  kingdom  of  Media.  This  is  how 
it  came,  I  suspect,  to  give  its  name  to  the  great  Cyrus." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

VISIT  TO  THE   KEDABEK  MINES— DOUKHOBOR  VILLAGE- 
CAUCASIAN  SCENERY— ELIZABETHPOL—UDZHARRI. 

AFTER  their  month's  detention  at  Tiflis,  it  wsls 
necessary  for  the  two  Friends  and  their  interpreter 
to  take  a  journey  to  the  great  copper  mines  of  Kedabek, 
and  from  there  still  further  into  the  mountains  near  Lake 
Goktcha.  To  reach  the  mines  from  Tiflis,  they  proceeded 
by  rail  to  Daliar  station,  on  the  line  to  Baku,  driving 
thence  across  country  to  Kedabek,  some  thirty  miles 
southward. 

From  John  Bellows  to  his  Wife. 

Tiflis,  28-1-93. 

"It  is  with  a  feeling  of  relief  that  I  find  myself  again 
on  the  railway,  as  it  means  one  more  step  towards  the 
accomplishment  of  our  work.  The  country  we  are  trav- 
elling over  is  steppe— the  flat  valley  of  the  K(ir,  two  or 
three  miles  wide,  between  the  hills  of  Kohitia,  the  great 
wine  district  of  the  Caucasus,  on  our  left,  and  the  snowy, 
sun- dazzled  mountains  of  Armenia  on  our  right.  The  line 
is  just  crossing  the  river  K^,  and  the  steppe  is  here 
diversified  with  trees.  A  few  versts  behind  we  passed  a 
few  of  the  very  dwellings  Strabo  mentions — i.e.,  huts 
imderground.     These  have  framed  doorways. 

"When  we  got  into  the  train  at  Tiflis,  I  refused  to 
enter  the  smoking  carriages,  and  as  the  *  «i-kouriastchi ' 
or  '  Nichtraucher '  seemed  to  be  reserved  for  ladies  only, 
we  have  changed  into  the  first-class  by  permission  of  the 
chef  de  gave.  This  has  led  to  our  making  two  acquaint- 
ances— a  Persian  Shihite  Mahomedan  and  a  Turkish  Bek. 


156  SHIHITE  MAHOMEDANS 

We  find  from  the  latter  that  the  Persian  is  a  judge  at 
Shusha,  the  place  we  shall  soon  visit  (Shusha  is  the 
Tartar  word  for  '  glass '— from  its  white  appearance  on 
a  hill,  at  a  distance.) 

"  The  Turk  is  a  tall  young  man,  with  slightly  aquiline 
nose,  densely  black  hair,  and  nominally  a  Shihite  Mahom- 
edan.  He  asked  me  in  Russian  if  I  could  speak  that 
tongue.  I  said  no— but  '  un  peu  de  frangais  '—and  found 
he  also  can  speak  a  little  ;  just  enough  for  us  to  make  out 
each  other's  meaning.  He  wishes  us  to  lodge  a  night 
at  his  house,  saying  he  will  give  us  good  wine,  and  will 
kill  a  sheep  for  us,  and  have  pilau  served.  I  think  we 
may  possibly  become  his  guests ;  but  I  tell  him  in  the 
matter  of  wine  we  are  better  Mahomedans  than  he  is,  for 
we  do  not  drink  any.  He  says  Mahomet's  rule  is  a  good 
one ;  but  he  does  not  keep  to  the  rule  himself,  as  he 
believes  that  if  he  does  not  steal,  and  keeps  a  good  con- 
science, he  will  go  to  Paradise.  '  Some  of  those  Persians,' 
he  added,  '  make  plenty  of  prayers,  but  they  will  take 
away  your  five  roubles  all  the  same !  ' 

"  Ali  is  unmarried;  in  fact  is  at  this  moment  on  the 
look-out  for  a  wife.  He  is  an  intelligent  man,  readily 
entering  into  my  questions  about  names  of  places,  etc.  The 
*  Railway  ? '  I  queried.  The  Turks  call  it  Demirio/ =  iron- 
road.  By  the  way  I  must  tell,  when  I  get  home,  of  two 
Tartars  or  Kurds,  who  thought  the  engine  was  worked  by 
evil  spirits  inside  the  boiler— and  a  Molokan  who  credited 
the  telegraph  with  no  higher  motor  ! 

"  I  took  a  last  stroll  this  forenoon  for  half-an-hour,  at 
Tiflis,  in  the  stove-makers'  quarter,  and  on  getting  back 
to  the  hotel  had  difficulty  in  getting  rid  of  a  man  who 
begged  me  to  buy  a  dagger  or  a  sword  of  him — both 
*Stari'  (antique).  The  carrying  of  weapons  so  imiver- 
sally,  leads  to  much  loss  of  life— for  in  Tiflis  government 
alone,  out  of  less  than  a  million  people,  there  were 
140  murders  in  1890— and  I  think   139   in  Elizabethpol 


DALIAR  157 

government,  out  of  three-quarters  of  a  million.  Then 
there  are  hundreds  stabbed  who  do  not  die.  *     *     * 

"  Daylight  had  gone  when  the  train  pulled  up  atDaliar, 
the  station  for  the  mines.  As  we  stepped  down  with  our 
baggage,  the  manager  of  the  mines  came  in ;  for  the  same 
horses  that  brought  him  here  are  to  take  us  to  Kedabek. 

"  We  found  ourselves  in  a  boundless  plain  of  snow. 
The  forwarding  agent  of  the  mines  was  in  waiting  to  take 
us  to  his  house  (where  I  now  write,)  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
from  the  station.  A  carriage  took  our  baggage,  but  we 
walked  along  the  line.  Near  the  station  I  noticed  an  iron 
tower  fifty  feet  high.  Others  had  occurred  at  some  of  the 
other  stations ;  and  one  I  saw  was  just  begun.  What 
were  they  ?  Signal  towers  for  the  line  ?  '  Nein,'  said  our 
host,  who  speaks  German  ;  '  they  are  mosquito  towers 
for  the  station  people  to  sleep  in  on  summer  nights  ! '  The 
mosquitoes  keep  near  the  ground,  and  by  these  towers 
they  can  be  escaped  from !  This  is  one  of  the  annoyances 
we  avoid  by  travelling  in  winter. 

"  Our  interpreter  has  an  old  friend  living  three  versts 
from  this  place,  and  had  planned  to  leave  us  here  for  the 
night  and  go  on  to  sleep  with  the  old  man ;  we  picking 
him  up  in  the  morning  en  route  for  the  mines.  But  the 
expdditeur  (for  this  is  a  siding  station  from  which  all  the 
metal  copper  is  sent  off— and  all  the  materials  are  brought 
to  it  from  the  mines)— told  him  it  would  not  be  possible  to 
go  at  9  o'clock  at  night.  He  says  the  mud  will  take  him 
up  to  his  knees,  and  he  would  never  forget  the  road  all  his 
life  after,  if  he  tried  it !  But  he  persevered,  and  finally  a 
guide  was  found  for  him.  Just  as  they  were  going  to 
start,  a  German  engineer  came  in  and  made  such  a  fright- 
ful picture  of  the  dangers  that  he  has  scared  him  out  of  the 
idea.  '  Not  only  the  mud  that  you  will  stick  fast  in— but 
Tartars — and  besides  the  Tartars,  wolves  will  attack  you — 
and  all  sorts.'  This  last  was  shouted  at  the  top  of  his 
voice,  for  the  gentleman  is  deaf,  and  had  no  idea  of  the 


158  DALIAR 

noise  he  was  making.  It  is  now  arranged  that  the  guide  is 
to  go  with  him  friih  in  the  morning,  and  we  call  for  him 
later. 

"  We  are  to  be  called  at  6.30,  and  start  as  soon  as  we 
have  had  coffee.  The  distance  is  45  versts — 30  miles — 
over  the  mountains ;  and  with  six  horses  (and  even  they 
useless  over  the  steepest  three  versts,  which  we  walk)  it 
will  take  us  till  six  o'clock  at  night  to  reach  Kedabek. 
The  mines  employ  2000  people,  I  believe.  We  are  very 
sorry  to  miss  the  manager,  but  his  wife  will  entertain  us ; 
and  she  speaks  English. 

*'  I  think  I  told  you  about  the  travelling  shop  on  the  line 
here  ?  We  owe  our  excellent  supper  to-night  to  the  pur- 
chases our  host  and  hostess  made  from  this  van  in  the 

train." 

To  his  Wife, 

Kedabek  Mines,  Caucasus,  29-1-93. 

"  In  spite  of  the  stoves,  we  found  our  bedroom  at  Daliar 
last  night  cold  enough  to  make  our  bourkas  valued  as  a 
covering.  The  house  is  a  good  German  one — a  sort  of 
warehouse  below  for  the  copper  ingots ;  and  a  railway 
platform  and  siding  adjoining  for  loading  the  metal,  and 
for  unloading  machinery  and  plant  for  the  mines,  which 
are  45  versts  away,  in  a  mountain  over  5000  feet  high. 
Near  the  'Expeditions  Stantsie'  is  the  great  petroleum 
reservoir,  holding  three  hundred  thousand  poods  of  the 
unrefined  oil  ;  of  which  more  presently. 

"  The  whole  premises  is  so  arranged  as  to  serve  as  the 
store  for  the  copper,  etc.,  and  the  upper  part  in  which  we 
were  entertained,  as  a  kind  of  hotel  for  persons  coming  to 
or  from  the  mines.  The  agent  is  a  German  of  perhaps 
thirty-five  years  of  age — a  bright  active  man,  with  a 
bright  wife,  and  one  little  girl  three  years  old.  The  child 
sees  so  many  visitors  that  she  is  not  a  bit  shy  ;  and  in 
a  very  few  minutes  after  our  arrival  she  had  taken  Joseph 
Neave's  measure  and  mine,  and  established  games  with 

I 


A   GERMAN  HOME  159 

us.  I  had  a  regular  race  and  hide-and-seek  with  her,  and 
made  all  clear  to  her  mother  by  showing  the  photo  of  you 
—the  Upton  family !  Greatly  as  I  regretted,  for  the  hun- 
dredth time  since  being  in  Russia,  my  non-acquaintance 
with  German,  I  was  yet  glad  of  the  fractions  I  was  able 
to  scrape  out  of  my  memory — enough  to  ask  my  host 
many  questions,  and  understand  his  replies.  They  were 
abounding  in  their  efforts  to  make  us  comfortable.  As  to 
Clara,  two  things  heightened  us  much  in  her  opinion. 
The  first  was  a  box  of  a  Russian  sweetmeat,  made  from 
apple-jelly  into  a  sort  of  Turkish  delight,  which  M.  S.  had 
included  in  her  selection  for  our  journey.  We  had  only 
used  half,  and  Fast  most  happily  bethought  him  of  it  for 
this  child's  benefit.  The  second  was  a  happy  acquirement 
of  Joseph  Neave's,  by  which  a  handkerchief,  knotted,  is 
drawn  over  the  top  of  the  forefinger  to  make  a  man,  the 
knot  forming  his  cap.  In  so  lonely  a  position  as  this  home 
in  the  steppe,  where  a  child  of  three  has  no  playmate  of 
her  own  age,  thou  wilt  fancy  how  popular  all  this  would 
make  us ! 

"It  was  as  well  Fast  did  not  go  last  night,  for  al- 
though I  do  not  believe  either  Tartars  or  wolves  would 
have  attacked  him,  we  were  warned  not  to  go  downstairs 
(the  stairs  descend  from  a  verandah  and  balcony  outside, 
as  is  usual  in  the  Caucasian-German  houses,)  as  several 
large  and  fierce  dogs  are  unchained  at  dark  to  guard  the 
premises  from  robbers.  I  shall  have  another  word  or  two 
about  dogs  by  and  by  —  and  Strabo's  account  of  them. 
They  howled  fearfully  last  night,  I  know  ! 

"  We  were  called  at  8,  and  as  soon  as  we  were  dressed, 
coffee  was  served  to  us  with  excellent  bread  and  butter ; 
the  bread  made  in  the  house,  the  butter  sent  in  by  a 
Tartar  of  the  steppe :  white,  but  as  good  as  we  get  in 
England.  At  breakfast  Clara's  bright  little  face  suddenly 
grew  sad  —  and  her  tears  came  !  What  was  the  matter  ? 
She  remembered  that  last  night  she  had  a  beautiful  box  of 


i6o  LEAVING  FOR  KEDABEK 

sweets,  with  a  picture  on  the  lid — and  it  was  gone.  She 
thought  it  was  a  dream  !  Box  found,  safely  put  away  in 
a  cupboard ;  tears  dried,  smiles  again  order  of  the  day, 
and  general  distribution  of  *  goodies'  to  all  of  us.  Mamma 
as  much  pleased  as  Clara ! 

''  When  the  coffee  was  drunk  we  were  told  the  '  Pferde' 
were  '  fertig  '—or  '  gatof '  as  the  Russians  have  it,  and  we 
forthwith  put  on  our  shubas  and  then  the  heavy  wolfskin 
shubas  over  them — for  Dr  Haudelin  had  dissuaded  us  from 
leaving  the  heaviest  at  Tiflis.  *  Take  every  wrap  and 
coat  you  have.  You  will  want  everything.'  Staggering 
under  the  weight  and  bulk  we  climbed  into  the  Fy-tone 
(phaeton)  that  was  to  take  us  to  Kedabek :  our  baggage 
strapped,  part  of  it  in  front  and  part  behind.  Six  horses, 
four  abreast  and  two  in  front,  were  waiting  to  drag  us 
through  the  bog  and  over  the  boulders  that  formed  the 
'  road  '—for  road  in  the  English  meaning  of  the  word  there 
is  none.  A  light-haired  young  man  in  a  sheepskin  coat, 
and  a  great  woolly  cap,  mounted  the  box  as  driver ;  a 
boy  of  thirteen  or  fourteen,  similarly  clad,  plus  a  bright 
coloured  scarf  round  his  neck,  mounted  one  of  the  front 
pair  as  postilion  ;  and  a  handsome  fellow  on  a  good  horse 
rode  slowly  up  to  the  side  of  the  carriage  who,  we  were 
told,  was  ordered  by  the  mine  manager  to  escort  us  as  a 
guard.  He  wore  a  coffee-brown  cloak  over  some  blue 
garment,  heavy  boots,  his  bashlik  lying  on  his  shoulders — 
a  breech-loading  rifle  slung  on  one  side,  a  sabre  on  the 
other,  and  a  large  dagger  in  his  girdle.  We  found  after- 
wards that  the  Governor-General  had  an  understanding 
with  the  mine  manager  that  he  was  to  give  us  this  protec- 
tion !  Of  course  we  did  not  want  anything  of  the  sort — 
but  the  authorities  here  don't  consult  us  in  such  matters. 
They  simply  regard  themselves  as  in  some  way  respon- 
sible for  our  safety  from  attack,  and  take  their  own 
measures.  Sometimes  just  behind,  sometimes  in  front, 
our  Tartar  rode— all  three  were  Tartars  who  had  charge 
of  us — and  very  nicely  they  behaved  all  the  way  through. 


ANNENFELD  i6i 

"  The  station  enclosure  is  simply  a  piece  of  bog  moor- 
land fenced  off  from  the  other  hog  outside.  The  signal 
given,  the  driver  cracked  his  whip,  and  the  horses  pulled 
us  through  the  heavy  ground  half  way  up  to  the  axles. 
When  I  say  that  an  ordinary  arable  field  in  England  would 
be  as  good,  it  is  no  exaggeration — bump  over  a  boulder — 
lurch  into  a  rut — squelch  through  sludge,  amid  objurga- 
tions from  the  driver  and  postilion  to  the  horses  (for  I 
have  gathered  an  idea  that  swearing,  or  what  sounds  to 
one  like  it,  forms  a  sort  of  principle  with  Tartars  in  deal- 
ing with  cattle !) — on  we  ploughed  at  two  miles  an  hour 
till  we  reached  the  German  Colony  (Annenfeld,)  where 
Fast  had  been  breakfasting  with  an  old  Pastor. 

'*  The  mark  by  which  I  have  come  to  know  German 
villages  in  Russia  is  the  presence  of  the  Lombardy  poplar. 
It  adds  much  to  a  landscape  otherwise  so  bare  of  trees ; 
and  Annenfeld  is  a  well-to-do  looking  village  with  double 
lines  of  poplars,  and  a  stream  of  water  under  them. 

"  By  degrees  the  way  rose  as  it  wound  to  and  fro  over 
the  moorland.  In  front  was  a  line  of  mountains,  serrated 
into  hundreds  of  points,  all  glistening  with  snow— larger 
ones  behind  the  smaller.  As  hour  after  hour  passed,  we 
rose  higher  and  higher  into  scenery  that  now  reminded 
one  of  Malvern,  and  now  of  the  Welsh  mountains.  At  last 
the  slant  is  steeper  than  even  six  horses  can  well  manage, 
except  with  the  empty  carriage — empty,  all  but  for  our 
light  baggage  ;  and  we  take  off  our  wraps  and  walk  for 
three  versts.  We  have  now  mounted  to  2,500  feet,  and  it 
is  perceptibly  colder.  The  sharp  points  of  the  hills  behind 
us  are  beginning  to  give  place  to  rounder  mountains.  We 
have  in  no  instance  any  cliffs  like  those  in  the  pass  from 
Vladikafkas ;  but  steep  combes  and  gorges,  very  Welsh 
or  Highland. 

*'  I  turned  to  look  back  at  one  point.  Two  dark  snow 
clouds  had  just  rolled  asunder,  and  gave  a  peep  over 
a  plain  stretching  far— /ay  away.  A  sharp  pointed  hill  in 
K 


1 62  MOORLAND 

the  mid-distance  we  had  passed  on  our  right— not  far  from 
the  '  Colony.'  It  had  been  the  centre  of  the  camp  of  the 
last  Persian  army  that  fought  with  the  Russians  in  1827  ; 
for  this  country  east  of  Tiflis  all  belonged  to  Persia  at  that 
time.  It  was  winter,  and  a  driving  storm  of  snow  blew 
from  west  to  east,  covering  the  Russian  army  coming 
from  the  west.  It  was  only  8,000  strong — but  falling 
suddenly  on  the  Persian  camp  unprepared  for  attack,  the 
battle  was  very  bloody,  and  soon  over ;  the  Persian 
Prince  was  among  the  slain. 

"By  mid-day  the  sharp  pointed  hills  have  given  place 
to  great  rounded  mountains,  all  covered  with  snow  shining 
in  a  slight  sunny  mist.  It  felt  as  if  we  were  travelling 
over  endless  moorland.  On  one  high  plateau  we  see 
tombstones  unfenced  near  the  road.  They  are  recent ; 
the  inscriptions  in  Persian  (Arabic  letters.) 

"  We  left  at  nine.  By  half-past  two  we  come  in  sight 
of  a  large  tank  like  a  gasometer ;  and  near  it  a  good 
European  dwelling.  We  drive  into  the  yard  and  find  it  is 
a  sort  of  half-way  house  for  the  works.  An  elderly 
German  who  is  in  charge  of  the  Station  comes  out  to 
welcome  us.  *  Herr  Bolton,'  he  says,  '  has  ordered  dinner 
to  be  ready  for  you,  and  if  you  will  come  in  it  shall  be 
served  augenblicklich.'  We  were  very  tired  and  hungry, 
and  excellent  vermicelli  soup  and  baked  potatoes,  with 
Asiatic  bread,  soon  recruited  me  ;  while  the  others  were 
regaled  further  with  roast  hare,  hares  being  plentiful  here. 

"In  an  hour  we  started  with  four  fresh  horses  instead 
of  six  tired  ones  * ;  for  although  we  rise  higher,  the  way 
is  not  on  the  whole  so  atrocious  as  in  the  part  we  have 
done  with.  Here  and  there  we  certainly  seem  very  near 
a  capsize,  and  even  here  the  hill  seems  too  steep  in  parts 
to  let  us  escape  a  fall  of  appalling  force ;  but  the  driver 
knows  what  he  is  about,  and  the  two  outer  horses  skip  up 

*  "  This  was  a  mistake.    They  rested,  and  the  four  fresh  instead  of 
six  were  given  us  at  Slavianka." 


FIERCE   DOGS  163 

and  down  in  a  way  that  first  moved  my  pity,  but  later, 
when  I  understood  them  better,  my  admiration.  They 
were  clever !  The  one  on  the  side  towards  the  hill  would 
only  get  foot  room  now  and  then  by  a  skip  out  of  the  rut 
on  to  the  bank ;  while  his  opposite  fellow  hopped  on  three 
legs—  then  went  with  his  foot  alternately  on  the  ridge  and 
down  in  the  rut ;  but  very  rarely  on  a  boulder,  though 
they  tempted  him  sorely. 

"  Daylight  had  gone,  and  with  it  the  only  signs  of  life, 
except  now  and  then  a  wagon  or  a  peasant  on  the  road, 
a  kind  of  crow,  and  the  snow-bunting.  The  last  time  I 
saw  this  bird  was  on  Ben  Nevis.  But  I  ought  not  to  have 
missed  mention  of  Tchardachle— the  Tartar  village  adjoin- 
ing the  half-way  tank  and  house.  It  consisted  partly  of 
huts  built  of  stone,  with  earthen  roofs ;  and  partly  of  caves 
or  houses  made  in  the  ground,  exactly  as  Strabo  describes 
the  Caucasians  1 900  years  ago  !  He  also  says  the  people 
here  had  dogs  as  large  and  fierce  as  lions ;  and  it  made 
me  start  as  I  looked  across  the  way  from  one  of  these 
subterranean  houses,  to  see  two  dogs  guarding  each  his 
master's  door,  immense  in  size,  the  exact  colour  and  ap- 
pearance of  lionesses,  their  ears  short ;  so  that  it  would 
be  impossible  not  to  think  as  Strabo  did,  if  we  came 
without  knowing  a  word  he  had  said ! 

"  This  morning  (day  after)  I  saw  one  in  the  works — a 
magnificent  dog ;  and  on  saying  as  much  to  the  manager 
he  replied  '  Yes,  he's  a  fine  dog,  but  of  a  bad  temper.  He 
has  killed  fourteen  other  dogs ! ' 

"  By  and  by  we  drive  down  into  a  long  valley,  pleas- 
antly besprinkled  with  trees,  and  among  them  Lombardy 
poplars.  The  village  that  came  into  view  was  Slavianka, 
(something  like  Slave- vill  or  town  of  the  Slavonians,  i.e.^ 
Russian.)    It  is  a  Duchabortzi  colony*  transported  in  the 

*  This  is  the  first  mention,  by  John  Bellows,  of  the  Russian  sect 
whom  he  so  largely  assisted  in  later  years  in  their  emigration  to 
Canada.    The  name  is  now  generally  spelt  Doukhobor, 

K2 


1 64  DOUKHOBOR   WOMEN 

first  place  from  some  part  of  Russia  to  the  Crimea,  where 
the  Duchabortzi  were  joined  by  Mennonites  from  Germany. 
Re-transported  to  the  Caucasus,  they  have  settled  and 
prospered  here,  and  brought  with  them  from  the  Crimea 
the  making  of  fuel  out  of  the  farmyard  manure  pressed 
into  moulds  and  dried.  It  looks,  en  masse,  like  turf  ricks. 
In  a  treeless  country,  like  parts  of  the  Stavropol  govern- 
ment, this  is  all  they  have  to  depend  on  for  firing. 

"  While  the  horses  were  changing  we  were  asked  to 
walk  in.  The  house  was  a  farm  ;  and  a  decent  room  with 
two  beds  in  one  side,  curtained  off,  shewed  that  they  used 
it  for  sleeping.  An  old  woman  neatly  dressed,  and  clean, 
brought  us  biscuits— home-made.  Her  daughter,  a  very 
tall,  strongly-built  woman,  and  grand-daughter,  a  girl  of 
perhaps  ten,  also  came  in,  and  they  were  glad  to  converse 
about  their  belief.  They  fetched  in  another  woman,  a 
neighbour,  to  give  us  a  specimen  of  their  oral  recitation  of 
a  hymn.  She  needed  a  good  deal  of  urging,  but  at  last 
began,  and  for  five  minutes  repeated  line  after  line  till  she 
got  to  the  end,  when  all  bowed  in  token  of  reverence. 
Fast  said  that  on  the  whole  it  was  good  matter.  These 
people  are  well  spoken  of  by  other  Russians  as  honest 
and  industrious  ;  and  I  believe  it. 

"With  our  new  team  of  four  we  resumed  our  course. 
A  few  narrow  escapes,  and  lurches  that  made  one  cringe, 
were  the  only  diversifications  as  we  passed  from  hill  to 
valley,  and  valley  to  hill,  until  we  began  one  ascent  so 
bad  that  it  seemed  impossible  for  horses  to  pull  us  up  it. 
I  was  calling  '  Stoi !  '  and  offering  that  we  would  get  out 
and  walk,  but  our  Engineer  said  in  German,  '  It  is  only  a 
short  hill.  Don't  get  out.  We  shall  be  in  Kedabek  in  einer 
Viertelstunde.'  On  the  summit,  5000  feet  elevation,  the 
smell  of  sulphur  burning  confirmed  his  words,  and  before 
long  we  were  driving  down  hill  once  more,  with  the  lurid 
light  of  furnaces  reflected  on  the  snow,  and  making  beau- 
tiful effects  with  the  moonlight  and  the  shadows. 


THE  KEDABEK  MINES  165 

"  At  a  sudden  turn  we  stopped  at  the  Gastinitza  at  the 
entrance  of  the  village— for  the  absence  of  the  manager 
prevented  DrHaudelin's  plan  of  our  being  his  guests  [being 
carried  out.]  We  had  no  reason  to  complain,  however. 
It  was  not  such  an  hotel  as  we  had  had  at  Petersburg  or 
at  Tiflis ;  but  there  were  good  plain  rooms  ready  for  us, 
with  a  brisk  fire  in  the  little  stove ;  and  very  soon  the 
samovar  and  its  concomitants  left  us  little  to  wish  for. 

"  We  should  have  to  spend  most  of  the  next  day  waiting 
to  see  the  persons  we  wished  to  question,  for  they  were 
at  work  till  evening.  We  cannot  move  as  we  should 
naturally  like  to,  in  this  far  away  corner ;  things  in  Asia 
are  slow,  and  we  must  submit. 

*'  In  the  morning  the  deputy- manager  called  on  us,  and 
we  went  with  him  to  the  works ;  no  great  distance  down 
the  village.  The  mines  are  high  in  the  mountain  side, 
and  the  ore  is  brought  down  to  be  smelted,  etc.  All  the 
processes  are  now  performed  with  raw  or  unrefined 
petroleum  from  Baku.  The  mine  was  discovered  ages 
ago,  beyond  history.  Its  latest  development  before  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  present  firm,  was  imder  a  native 
(Armenian,  etc.)  firm,  when  it  yielded  about  4000  poods  of 
metal  a  year.  William  Siemens,  German  Consul  at  Tiflis, 
knew  of  it,  and  finally  induced  his  brothers  to  take  it  over 
and  work  it  after  European  methods,  thus  enormously  in- 
creasing the  output,  and  greatly  benefiting  the  district  by 
employing  such  a  large  number  of  people;  about  2000 
in  all. 

"As  it  was  not  possible  to  go  further  during  the  after- 
noon, the  manager  of  the  mines  asked  if  we  would  not 
occupy  the  time  by  going  underground,  in  charge  of  their 
German  overseer — or,  as  he  would  be  called  in  Cornwall, 
'  Captain.'  We  were  glad  of  the  opportunity,  though  the 
loss  of  time  was  a  trial  we  could  not  help. 

"  There  is  more  than  one  mine  here ;  but  we  went  to 
the  nearest ;  perhaps  a  couple  of  versts  out.     It  is  on  the 


i66  ANCIENT  TOOLS 

side  of  a  very  steep  hill.  *  *  *  *  it  was  very  warm 
in  some  of  the  backs  ;  but  the  mine  is  really  well  ven- 
tilated. They  use  the  same  methods  as  in  Cornwall : 
powder  for  blasting  the  softer  rock,  and  dynamite  for 
the  harder.  An  hour  and  a  quarter  of  the  underground 
journey  was  as  much  as  we  cared  for.  My  friend  did  not 
like  the  ladder  climbing,  little  as  it  amounted  to  ;  but  the 
Captain  was  pleased  to  signify  his  belief  that  I  was  a 
*  born  miner.' 

"  We  also  had  the  opportunity  of  testing  the  point  about 
the  antiquity  of  the  pick  and  shovel ;  for  when  the  mana- 
ger found  I  wished  to  go  into  this,  he  sent  for  a  venerable 
old  Armenian  who  had  worked  many  years  in  Kedabek 
mines  before  Siemens  Brothers  came  here.  He  had  a 
splendid  white  beard — for  the  old  man  was  eighty-five. 
The  cross-examination  had  to  be  conducted  through  double 
interpreters — i.e.,  as  I  asked  in  English,  Fast  repeated 
what  I  said  in  Russian ;  marginal  notes  were  thrown  in 
by  the  manager  in  German  ;  then  an  employe  of  the  mine 
interpreted  into  Armenian;  and  the  answers  returned 
through  the  same  complicated  lines  except  the  first. 

"  Question  i.  You  now  use  in  Kedabek  three-cornered 
shovels  with  long  handles.  Were  these  first  brought  here 
by  the  firm  Siemens  Brothers,  or  is  this  the  original  shovel 
of  the  country  ? 

'  *  The  old  man  replied  in  a  tone  that  showed  me  he  was 
denying  that  Siemens  introduced  the  shape  ;  but  he  added 
something  more,  which  the  middle  interpreter  conveyed 
direct  to  me  by  speaking  in  German,  and  using  a  pencil. 
*He  says.  No.  This  was  the  shovel  used  in  old  times 
before  Siemens  came  into  the  country,  and  you  will  see  it 
used  in  all  country  places  in  Armenia  now  ;  only  they  put 
an  iron  on  for  the  foot  to  bear  on  in  digging  with  it.' 

"  Question  2.  Was  the  pick  used  before  Siemens'  time, 
the  same  shape  as  this  one  ? 

"  Answer.  Yes.  Before  Siemens  came,  all  the  picks 
were  like  that ;  none  had  head  two  ways.     *     *    * 


DIFFICULT   TRAVELLING  167 

"  On  Third-day  morning  we  started  for  two  villages 
still  higher  in  the  mountains  than  Kedabek.  They  lie 
about  30  versts  east,  and  30  versts  in  such  a  country 
is  enough  for  a  day's  journey,  as  much  of  it  is  slow  climb- 
ing up  mountain  steeps.  We  must  therefore  sleep  at  one 
of  these  places  in  a  cottage. 

''  In  the  morning  at  nine  we  were  ready.  I  shall  always 
be  grateful  to  Dr  Haudelin  for  his  care  of  us,  and  counsel 
to  '  Take  all  the  wraps  and  furs  you  have.  It  is  very  cold 
up  in  the  mountains.'  For,  judging  by  slight  frosts  at 
Tiflis,  which  is  in  the  valley,  I  should  have  come  without 
the  heavy  wolfskin  shuba,  and  only  brought  the  lighter 
fur ;  but  5000  feet  up  a  mountain  makes  all  the  difference ! 
I  don't  know  how  many  poods  I  weighed  ;  but  I  do  know 
that  the  stairs  plied  a  bit  as  I  trailed  down  them.  At  the 
door  stood  a  wagon — springless — with  four  little  horses 
harnessed  abreast  and  a  bronzed  peasant  for  driver. 

"  By  the  good  offices  of  men  accustomed  to  load  goods, 
I  was  heaved  up  and  got  seated  on  a  bundle  of  hay,  as 
were  the  rest — and  off  we  went.  In  a  very  brief  time  we 
found  our  wagon  more  comfortable  than  the  phaeton.  As 
for  springs,  the  hay  and  our  shubas  answered.  Real  steel 
springs  could  not  have  stood  such  work  as  we  had  to  go 
through.  After  a  long  climb  up  hill,  we  descended  a 
steep,  past  a  commenced  but  unfinished  bridge  across 
a  gorge.  Recollect,  everything  is  deep  in  snow,  and  the 
brooks  part  frozen  and  part  free.  People  talk  about  keep- 
ing a  good  heart.  I  thought  later  on  in  the  day,  '  The 
best  place  to  keep  it  is  in  one's  mouth,  for  it  keeps  on 
coming  there  ! '  " 

Having  completed  its  work  in  the  Kedabek  district, 
the  party  returned  to  Daliar  station,  and  travelled  eastward 
to  Elizabethpol,  where  a  day  was  spent  in  making  certain 
needful  calls. 

At  their  hotel  in  Tiflis,  Joseph  Neave  and  his  companion 
had  met  with  a  young  Englishman,  who,  by  a  singular 


1 68  AN  UNDERGROUND   DWELLING 

coincidence,  had  been  educated  at  the  school  *  in  Glouces- 
tershire where  one  of  John  Bellows'  own  boys  was  at  that 
very  moment.  Their  new  acquaintance  was  the  engineer 
of  a  large  liquorice  factory  at  Udzharri,  on  the  line  to  the 
east  of  Elizabethpol.  Its  owner  and  the  chief  members 
of  the  staff  were  all  fellow-countrymen  of  our  travellers, 
who  gladly  accepted  an  invitation  to  visit  them  in  their 
isolation  on  the  factory  premises.  They  accordingly  spent 
the  week-end  at  Udzharri,  after  their  visit  to  Elizabethpol. 

To  his   Wife. 

Udzharri,  Caucasus,  S-2-93. 

"  We  arrived  here  shortly  before  midnight  last  night  to 
spend  a  quiet  First-day  before  beginning  our  round  to 
Shusha,  etc.,  etc.,  after  a  single  day  in  Elizabethpol. 

"  As  soon  as  we  came  back  f  from  the  mountain  drive, 
W.  Bolton,  J  finding  I  was  curious  to  see  a  subterranean 
dwelling,  drove  us  over,  about  a  mile,  to  an  Armenian 
village,  where  we  went  into  one.  It  was  divided  below 
into  two  apartments,  one  for  the  cattle  and  one  for  the 
family.  A  little  light  came  in  from  the  door,  enough  to 
show  two  broad  benches  of  earth  covered  with  board,  on 
either  side  the  room,  with  a  stove  in  the  space  between ; 
at  the  far  end,  raised  20  inches  from  the  floor,  on  the  plat- 
form, was  a  mother  rocking  her  baby  to  sleep  in  a  cradle  ; 
and  a  handsome  girl  of  fourteen  or  so  was  doing  some 
domestic  work.  Fowls  walked  in  and  out  between  our 
feet. 

"  A  visit  to  the  stables  at  W.  Bolton's  ended  our  pleas- 
ant afternoon  there.  One  lovely  Arab  horse,  white,  with 
flowing  mane  and  tail,  bought  for  his  wife  to  ride,  but 
rather  too  spirited,  was  brought  out — neighed — stood  on 
his  hind  legs  ;  and  was  followed  by  an  old  Turkestan  white 
horse,  twenty  years  old,  which  the  lady  does  ride,  and 
which,  amid  all  these  loose  stones  and  mountain  paths,  has 

*Bussage  House,  near  Stroud.  fTo  Kedabek. 

J  The  manager  of  the  mines. 


GREEK  PRIESTS  169 

never  once  slipped  down  in  his  life  ;  then  a  native  horse, 
whose  height  I  took  (i^  metre)  as  a  memorandum  for  use 
in  describing  our  teams. 

"  In  the  evening  we  took  tea  at  Gustav  Kelly's,  whose 
wife  is  W.  B.'s  daughter.  She  speaks  French  and  he 
English  ;  so  that  we  felt  not  cut  off  by  our  foreign  speech. 
The  Boltons  came  too  ;  and  the  hearty  kindness  all  showed 
us,  I  shall  never  forget. 

"  In  the  morning  we  left  for  Daliar.  We  had  a  little 
conversation  with  the  young  Greek  priest  of  the  village, 
who  left  a  favourable  impression  on  us.  I  am  bound  to 
say  this  is  our  feeling  with  regard  to  many  of  the  priests — 
though  a  few  are  bad  and  dark. 

"  We  had  liked  our  old  wagon  and  driver  so  much  that 
we  engaged  the  same  team  to  take  us  to  Daliar— but 
W.  Bolton,  wishing  us  to  use  his  phaeton  instead  of  the 
wagon,  we  got  the  same  four  horses  harnessed  to  it  and 
started.  The  first  thing  that  met  our  eyes  just  beyond  our 
inn,  was  a  cow  that  some  Tartars  had  just  butchered  in 
the  street!  This  is  a  dreadful  country  for  such  things. 
I  do  hope  the  day  will  come  when  people  will  cease  to  eat 
flesh ! 

"  The  road  was  slippery  for  some  hours  till  the  sun  had 
gained  power — and  I  sat  admiring  the  feats  of  skating  per- 
formed by  the  near  outer  horse  of  the  team,  in  front  of 
me.  He  could  do  '  outside  edge '  in  a  wonderful  way ; 
and  many  other  things.  One  movement  he  had  which 
used  to  make  me  shiver !  Every  time  we  rushed  down 
hill  to  one  of  the  sharp  turns,  where  a  gorge  needed  his 
keeping  m,  he  had  a  way  of  pulling  out  and  heading 
straight  for  the  gulf!  And  just  at  the  last  moment  he 
would  alter  his  mind,  sidle  up  close  to  the  horse  on  his 
left,  and  make  him  get  in  far  enough  for  him  to  have  room 
for  his  feet  instead  of  falling  over,  and  ending  the  lives 
of  the  whole  equipage  :  horses,  driver,  interpreter,  and 
'  Friends ' !     I  now  believe  he  only  obeyed  the  rein,  and 


I70  CAUCASIAN  SCENERY 

that  it  was  his  place  to  pull  diagonally  at  that  particular 
juncture,  though  why  I  fail  to  see.  Certainly  all  the  time 
he  was  not  engaged  in  saving  his  own  life,  he  pulled. 
A  big  Strabo's  lion  dog  set  at  his  legs  in  one  village.  He 
kept  his  eye  on  him,  and  all  at  once  let  fly  such  a  kick  at 
the  animal  as  would  have  killed  him  on  the  spot  if  the  dog 
had  not  dodged  it! 

"  Soon,  as  we  rose  on  to  the  high  ground,  we  got  a 
peep  at  the  Great  Caucasus  mountains  sixty  versts  away 
— a  grand  piece  of  the  range,  but  limited  on  both  right 
and  left  by  the  hills  through  which  we  were  travelling. 
Hour  after  hour,  as  we  rose  and  descended,  and  rose  yet 
again  nearer  the  outer  heights  of  this  Lesser  Caucasus, 
the  stretches  of  the  Greater  range  grew  broader  and 
broader;  till  at  last,  on  emerging  from  the  last  of  the 
back  valleys  to  the  edge  that  overlooks  all  the  plain  of  the 
Koura,  the  whole  vast  wall  of  towering  Alps  stood  in 
dazzling  splendour  before  us — two  hundred  miles  long 
and  eleven  thousand  feet  high !  Far  too  wide  to  be  com- 
prehended in  one  view,  the  eye  had  to  travel  slowly 
along  the  great  arc,  unable  to  take  it  in  so  as  fully  to 
realise  it :  wearied  with  its  very  magnificence.  We  are 
ourselves  standing  on  a  mountain  at  this  outer  line  two 
thousand  feet  higher  than  the  plain  below  our  feet— the 
plain  that  rolls  away  westward  to  Europe  and  eastward 
to  Asia ;  itself  a  great  and  vast  and  indescribable  sea  of 
violet  that  ends  nowhere,  right  or  left,  but  dies  away  into 
violet  mist,  and  that  again  into  blue  haze— and  the  blue 
haze  into  a  grey  that  is  again  immeasurable — and  then 
above  all  this  the  innumerable  peaks  and  towers  and  cliffs, 
dazzling  white  against  the  far  pale  blue  sky.  White  with 
faint  blushes  of  palest  rose  colour,  marked  with  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands  of  folds  and  wrinkles  and  lines  run- 
ning down  from  the  snow  into  the  violet  sea  of  nothingness 
in  the  plains  below.  Yonder,  far,  very  very  far  on  the 
western  horizon,  is  Kasbek,  16,000  feet  high — and  west 


CAUCASIAN  SCENERY  171 

again  from  Kasbek,  some  other  giant  height  far  more 
than  a  hundred  miles  from  the  mountain  we  stand  on ; 
and  as  we  turn  eastward  the  sight  wanders  on,  and  on, 
and  on,  till  it  wearies  in  the  effort  to  comprehend  that 
another  hundred  miles  towards  the  Caspian  still  leaves 
the  list  of  heights  unexhausted. 

"  There  is  nothing  in  Switzerland — nothing  in  Europe 
like  this  ;  and  powerless  to  grasp  the  ideas  such  a  scene 
suggests,  I  am  glad  of  the  sunset,  glad  of  the  darkness, 
and  the  silence  and  the  stillness  that  shall  for  a  time  veil 
the  overpowering  presence,  and  hush  the  spirit  to  rest 
from  it.  Any  one  of  those  mountains  alone  would  be 
enough  to  rouse  all  the  sense  of  the  vast  and  sublime 
of  which  the  mind  is  capable.  Those  tiny  grooves  and 
perpendicular  lines  are,  some  of  them,  cliffs  four  and  five 
thousand  feet  deep  ;  and  yet  they  are  only  at  the  base  of 
the  hill ;  for  yonder  on  the  right  we  see  Shalvuz  Dagh 
13,619  feet;  Shah  Dagh  13,931  ;  and  Basar-Dusi  14,750. 

"  We  walked  and  ran  down  the  mountain  to  the  valley, 
making  short  cuts,  plunging  through  the  snow  and  amid 
the  bushes,  which  are  here  abundant,  while  the  carriage 
went  to  and  fro  down  the  zig-zags. 

"  I  had  got  ahead  of  the  others,  who  were  out  of  view, 
when  I  came  upon  three  Tartar  boys  with  donkeys,  and  a 
woman  standing  by  a  spring.  I  was  not  thirsty,  but  to 
open  up  communications  with  the  nomads  I  made  the  sign 
of  drinking  from  my  hand.  The  youngest  of  the  three 
lads  ran  to  the  woman,  took  a  tin  from  her,  filled  it  with 
water,  and  handed  it  to  me.  I  gave  him  a  fifteen  kopek 
piece,  which  he  took  without  the  slightest  sign  of  '  thanks ' : 
but  this  was  only  because  he  had  never  learned  to  offer 
thanks  for  a  gift.  Gifts  were  in  his  life  few  and  far  between, 
I  fancy !  The  woman  went  one  way,  the  boys  and  their 
donkeys  laden  with  firewood,  my  way ;  and  we  walked 
together.  I  tried  to  get  a  few  Tartar  words  from  the 
biggest  boy ;  but  his  vague  wild  gutterals  in  reply  were 


172  A  TARTAR   CHILD 

beyond  my  grasp.  Presently  the  youngest,  a  mere  child, 
noticing  that  I  slipped  a  little  where  the  snow  had  been 
frozen  smooth,  went  and  fetched  a  stick  which  he  signed 
to  me  to  use  as  an  Alpenstock.  It  was  very  nice  of  him, 
and  I  prize  his  little  gift ;  for  it  was  his  way  of  showing 
that  he  was  not  ungrateful  for  mine  to  himself.  When  we 
parted  from  him,  I  kissed  his  little  bronzed  cheek  and 
longed  that  someone  would  now  and  then  show  some 
kindness  to  him  and  to  his  people ;  as  indeed  I  believe 
will  be  the  case  in  the  village  they  were  going  to. 

"  It  was  dark  when  we  reached  Elizabethpol.  As  the 
luggage  was  being  loaded  into  one  phytone  and  we  were 
stepping  into  another,  I  suggested  to  Joseph  Neave  that 
we  should  walk  to  the  hotel.  '  But  where  was  the  hotel  ? ' 
'  Four  versts  from  the  Station ! '  It  was  well  we  had  not 
attempted  the  walk.  At  about  half-way  the  luggage  stuck 
fast  in  front  of  us,  and  we  stopped,  stopping  two  more 
carriages  behind  us.  Strong  language  !  Driver  in  front 
using  whip  freely— then  cajoling  with  little  sounds  like 
kissing— but  horses  not  to  be  urged  or  cajoled !  At  last 
they  do  go  — and  we  also.  By  and  by  all  this  occurs 
again.  Later  on,  at  a  heavy  lurch  over  a  rut,  our  biggest 
package  is  pitched  out — and  then  we  get  into  softer  mud, 
and  pass  under  giant  trees  with  low  windowless  buildings 
behind  them,  and  long  blank  walls— closed  shops— a  few 
lamps — a  large  mosque  with  two  minarets,  and  presently 
a  gloomy  one-story  building  with  a  porch  across  the  foot- 
way—the Hotel  d'Europe.  We  are  in  Russia  politically, 
but  in  all  other  respects — buildings,  people,  language, 
manners,  we  are  in  Persia  !  Inside^  the  hotel  is  light  and 
good ;  an  open  balcony  runs  round  the  courtyard.  The 
rooms  are  very  lofty ;  and  with  fire  in  the  stoves  we  are 
soon  comfortable. 

"  In  the  morning  we  waited  early  on .    In  reply 

to  some  question  of  mine,  he  says  the  town  was  formerly 
called  Ghandja— and  was  thirty  versts  in  circumference, 


ELIZ  ABETHPOL  —  UDZH  ARRI  1 73 

the  large  gardens  taking  up  so  much  space.  [After 
a  visit  to  the  Mosque]  we  went  through  the  Bazaars: 
still  more  oriental  than  even  those  of  Tiflis— the  great 
many-centuried  plane  trees  standing  in  the  street  before 
the  shops,  loaded  baskets  of  grapes,  bags  of  drugs, 
beautiful  sweetmeats,  and  other  merchandise.  In  reply- 
to  some  archaeological  question,  the  old  gentleman* 
turned  to  me  with  a  smile  and  said,  '  Feu  mon  onclefM  le 
Prince  id  avant  la  domination  russe.^  I  found  afterwards 
that  he  is  the  grand-nephew  of  the  Persian  prince  who 
governed  the  city  and  province  of  Ghandja.  The  mud 
was  incredible  !  The  old  gentleman  lastly  took  me  to  the 
city  park  or  garden  (my  friends  returned  to  the  hotel)  and 
even  here  the  paths  were  so  bad  that  they  pulled  off  my 
goloshes,  and  left  me  plimging  hopelessly  after  my  guide 
— almost  losing  him  sometimes.  Again  in  the  street,  we 
met  a  lady — the  only  woman  I  saw  in  the  whole  place. 
She  was  veiled  in  purple  silk — but  instantly  turning  her 
face  to  the  wall,  she  bent  slightly  forward,  and  stood  so 
till  we  had  passed. 

"  In  the  evening  we  allowed  an  hour  to  plough  our  way 
to  the  station  ;  plunging,  rolling,  heaving,  till  I  thought  at 
one  lurch  we  really  had  lost  our  balance.  We  were  met 
between  1 1  and  1 2  at  night  [here  at  Udzharri]  by  James 
Brown,  who  had  a  man  in  waiting  for  our  baggage ;  and 
five  minutes'  walk  brought  us  to  a  bungalow  in  a  large 
enclosure,  the  residence  of  our  host,  the  owner  of  the 
Liquorice  Factory,  the  buildings  of  which  stand  at  a  few 
hundred  yards  distance.  Four  young  Englishmen  in  all 
sat  with  us  next  day  (First-day)  at  table  :  a  manager,  a 
buyer  of  root,  J.  Brown  (the  engineer,)  and  a  clerk.  We 
were  made  welcome  with  a  heartiness  that  was  tenfold 
the  more  acceptable  from  the  extreme  isolation  of  the  spot : 
a  roaring  fire  in  our  bedroom,  and  an  excellent  hot  supper 
in  the  dining-room,  to  begin  with.   We  are  in  the  middle 

*  Their  guide. 


174  AT  UDZHARRI 

of  a  vast  flat ;  marshy,  and  very  bad  for  fevers.  The 
mosquito  tower  at  the  Station  tells  its  own  tale. 

"A  few  versts  off  the  Tartar  population  are  in  a  terribly 
lawless  state — hundreds  of  murders  a  year  never  traced. 
Brigands  abound.  They  often  kill  as  well  as  rob ;  and 
always  beat  their  victims.  Close  by  here  lately,  a  Tartar 
stabbed  his  brother  to  death  for  having  let  a  horse  out  of 
an  enclosure.  Another,  angry  with  his  wife,  cut  off  all 
her  fingers  with  his  knife,  slashed  her  dreadfully,  and  sent 
her  home  to  her  father !  The  murder  of  a  wife  is  very 
rarely  brought  home  to  a  man.  If  he  is  caught,  he  brings 
fifteen  or  twenty  eye-witnesses,  who  go  into  court  and 
swear  they  saw  her  get  into  a  boat  and  try  to  cross  the 
Koura— and  it  upset  and  she  was  drowned— etcetera ! 

''  We  spent  a  quiet  First-day  yesterday  (2  mo.  5).  I 
felt  a  hope  that  some  opening  might  offer  for  a  few  words 
on  the  most  important  subjects.  At  last  Fast  went  out 
and  came  back  with  a  Bible  in  his  hand,  asking  if  we 
might  have  a  chapter  read.  They  readily  assented— and 
I  took  the  book  and  read  a  chapter  in  Job.  We  paused ; 
and  Joseph  Neave  spoke  at  some  length  very  nicely  in  the 
ministry,  following  in  prayer.  It  was,  I  felt,  a  word  in 
season ;  and  I  was  indeed  thankful  that  this  seed  had  been 
sown.  They  were  more  hearty  than  ever,  after  it ;  more 
kind  than  I  can  describe. 

"  Out-of-doors  it  was  bright  sunshine  and  blue  sky,  but 
too  muddy  to  attempt  walking.  From  the  balcony  in 
front,  a  splendid  view  of  the  Karabagh  mountains,  south, 
10,000  feet  high — and  from  the  opposite  balcony,  Basar- 
Dusi  nearly  15,000,  and  Shah  Dagh,  nearly  14,000  feet, 
north. 

"  This  is  Second-day,  the  6th  of  Second  month.  I  was 
not  very  well  this  morning,  and  Joseph  Neave  and  Fast 
begged  me  to  stay  in  and  rest — which  I  have  done— while 
they  paid  the  visit  to  Geoktchaiskaya,  17  versts  from  here. 
They  have  returned,  and  we  have  all  been  taken  over  the 


AT  UDZHARRI  175 

Liquorice  Works — a  very  interesting  sight.  The  yard 
itself  is  surrounded  by  a  mud  wall  seven  feet  high  and  a 
mile  in  circumference.  The  buildings  and  machinery  I 
must  tell  you  about  when  I  get  home.  Around  the  houses 
are  great  stacks  of  liquorice  root  1 50  feet  long  and  30  feet 
high. 

"  We  start  at  7  to-morrow  morning,  and  by  the  time 
this  reaches  Gloucester  I  expect  we  shall  be  back  in  Tiflis 
on  our  way  home,  all  but  two  little  visits  en  route  besides 
Moscow  and  Petersburg." 


CHAPTER  X. 

TARTAR  CARAVANSERAI  —  BRIGANDAGE  —  SHUSHA— ARMENIAN 
VILLAGES-GERUSI-ALI  AKBER— FUNERAL  SCENE— EVELACH 
STATION-RETURN  TO  TIFLIS. 

THE  travellers  had  now^  to  face  the  hardest  and  most 
difficult  part  of  their  journey,  w^hich  was  to  take 
them,  through  the  mountains  of  the  southern  Caucasus,  to 
Shusha  and  Gerusi :  in  fact,  almost  to  the  Persian  frontier. 
The  first  portion  of  their  route,  from  Udzharri,  was  by 
rail  to  Evelach,  where  they  were  joined  by  the  Govern- 
ment attendant  who  had  been  specially  appointed  to 
accompany  them  to  Gerusi. 

After  a  journey  of  over  two  hundred  and  forty  miles 
by  road  and  rough  mountain  track,  they  found  themselves 
once  again  at  Evelach,  where  they  parted  with  then- 
attendant,  and  returned  via  Elizabethpol  to  Tiflis. 

From  John  Bellows  to  his  Wife. 

Caravanserai  of  Korvendskaya, 

Eastern  Transcaucasus,  7-2-93. 

"  When  I  posted  my  No.  45  into  the  mail  carriage  at 
Udzharri  at  seven  this  morning,  I  not  only  foresaw  that 
some  days  must  elapse  before  I  could  again  get  a  letter  on 
to  the  line  of  rail  for  home,  but  I  thought  that  I  should 
be  some  time  before  I  had  anything  fresh  to  tell.  But 
I  am  writing  this  under  the  strangest  circumstances  of  the 
whole  journey  :  lodging  the  night  in  an  oriental  caravan- 
serai. 

"  The  boy  came  into  our  room  at  Udzharri  this  morning 
at  six  to  light  a  fire  of  wood  for  us  to  dress  by ;  and  a  good 
breakfast  awaited  us  in  the  dining-room,   our  untiring 


GREGORIO  WITCH  177 

friends  accompanying  us  thereafter  to  the  platform  to  see 
us  off.  No  one  can  tell  but  ourselves  what  that  break  in 
the  journey  has  been  to  us  !  So  far  from  home,  and  even 
from  civilization,  to  find  the  comforts  of  an  English  home 
and  a  very  warm  welcome!  We  again  had  a  time  of 
worship  with  them  last  night ;  and  the  seed  sown  will  not 
have  been  sown  in  vain.  For  an  hour  and  a  half  we  rolled 
along  over  the  seemingly  boundless  wilderness ;  for  the 
morning  was  misty,  and  the  great  mountains  no  longer  in 
view.  We  cross  the  Koura  near  our  halting  station  (Eve- 
lach)  and  a  bit  of  forest  diversifies  the  monotony  of  the 
swamp  we  have  traversed ;  not  at  all  like  an  English  or 
German  wood,  but  an  impenetrable  tangle  of  briars  ten 
or  twelve  feet  high  under  the  trees,  and  hundreds  of  these 
themselves  overgrown  with  tropical  climbers.  These 
woods  and  swamps  abound  in  hot  summer  weather  with 
venomous  serpents.  In  the  end  of  spring  many  people 
are  stung  by  them  ;  and  this,  added  to  the  continual  fever 
that  hangs  about  the  swamp,  makes  it  a  sad  country  to 
live  in. 

"  At  Evelach  we  found  our  Government  attendant 
waiting  for  us.  He  had  been  kind  enough  to  hire  for  us, 
as  requested,  two  phaetons  (the  carriage  of  the  country, 
though  not  well  suited  to  it)  each  with  four  little  horses 
abreast.  Dividing  our  baggage  between  them.  Fast  and 
the  attendant  took  one,  and  we  the  other.  The  agent's 
name  is  Gregorio witch  ;  a  very  decent  young  fellow.  He 
is  armed  to  the  teeth,  carrying  besides  his  bright  weapons 
a  breech-loading  rifle  and  twenty-two  rounds  of  ammuni- 
tion. Of  course  we  are  not  responsible  for  this,  or  we 
would  on  no  account  allow  it ;  for,  although  the  district  is 
almost  abandoned  to  banditti,  we  have  not  the  slightest 
fear  that  the  Master  who  sent  us  here  will  suffer  any  real 
harm  to  befall  us.  Unlike  their  congeners  nearer  the 
mouth  of  the  Arax,  they  do  not  hurt  their  victims,  but 
simply  take  away  their  property.  As  a  heavy  robbery 
L 


178  BRIGANDAGE 

took  place  on  the  road  we  are  now  travelling,  only  two 
months  ago,  Gregorio witch  wanted  us  to  take  an  armed 
Cosak  guard,  which  we  promptly  declined  to  do. 

"  The  robbery  was  between  this  posting  station  and  the 
next  (Agdam)  to  which  we  meant  to  push  on  to-night ; 
but  our  drivers  are  so  frightened  that  we  have  given  up 
the  attempt.  Eight  armed  Tartars  managed  the  whole 
affair.  They  began  in  the  morning  by  stopping  a  phaeton ; 
lashing  the  passengers  to  trees  (for  we  are  in  a  sort  of 
straggling  wood,)  and  robbing  them.  Then  they  waited 
for  a  second,  a  third,  a  fourth,  and  so  on  the  whole  day 
long,  including  the  mail  and  all  its  passengers  ;  so  that  by 
night- fall  they  had  about  150  people  tied  up.  Then  one 
of  them  untied  a  victim,  and  left  them  to  get  out  of  the 
difficulty  as  best  they  could !  Yesterday  they  again  robbed 
the  mail  near  this  spot !  In  1885  one  daring  fellow  with 
his  band  managed  (in  the  Baku  Government)  to  tie  up  and 
rob  nearly  300  people  in  a  day.  It  occurred  to  him  after- 
wards that  the  Russian  authorities  might  look  into  such  a 
matter  as  this,  so  he  withdrew  into  Persia,  where  it  is  said 
he  is  now  an  attendant  on  the  Shah. 

"  Don't  be  uneasy  on  our  account.  The  very  fact  of  this 
letter  arriving  will  show  that  I  have  posted  it !  But  more 
than  all  we  are  under  a  higher  protection  than  police. 
Even  a  couple  of  armed  men  are  no  match  for  eight 
desperadoes  ;  so  that  the  reliance  on  them  would  be  in 
any  case  foolish. 

''  We  drove  for  twenty- three  versts  this  morning  along 
a  better  road  than  any  we  have  seen  since  the  great  mili- 
tary way  over  the  Caucasian  mountains.  It  is  as  level  as 
a  die — over  a  moorland  and  marsh,  with  now  and  then  a 
bit  of  scrub  and  here,  a  wood.  The  way  is  kept  good 
with  pebbles  and  gravel  that  once  formed  the  bed  of  the 
Caspian  when  it  came  up  here.  Twice  we  had  to  cross 
the  bed  of  a  very  broad  torrent,  now  dry  ;  i.e.,  a  torrent 
at  the  melting  of  the  snow. 


BARDA 


179 


"  At  the  end  of  this  twenty-three  versts,  we  turned  into 
a  very  large  yard  in  the  Tartar  village  of  Barda.  Round 
two  sides  of  it  ran  an  open  flat-roofed  shed  for  horses  and 
camels.  At  one  part  was  a  vapour  bath  ;  and  on  the  side 
next  the  street  some  empty  rooms,  into  one  of  which 
we  were  shown  by  the  Odabashi  (Head  of  the  yard.)  As 
the  weather  is  very  cold  this  was  cheerless.  A  room 
twenty-five  feet  long  and  ten  wide,  with  mud  walls  covered 
with  European  paper-hanging — here  and  there  torn— and 
a  board  floor.  Three  or  four  low  broad  tables  served  for 
bedsteads,  and  there  were  three  chairs,  but  nothing  else 
whatever  in  the  place.  An  arched  recess  in  the  end 
showed  that  fire  was  sometimes  used  there  ;  though  they 
certainly  did  not  appear  to  be  fire- worshippers !  '  Tapieti€ !  * 
(Light  a  fire !)  In  two  minutes  a  grave-looking  man  brings 
a  shovel  of  burning  charcoal  and  lays  it  in  the  hearth ; 
while  a  boy,  following,  brings  a  big  armful  of  split  blocks 
of  wood.  These  are  piled  endways  on  the  embers,  and 
in  a  few  minutes  we  have  a  splendid  fire,  and  the  boiling 
samovar;  make  our  own  tea,  and  get  a  good  lunch.  In 
an  hour  we  are  off  again ;  and  just  at  sundown  our  drivers, 
who  are  very  timid,  declare  it  is  not  possible  to  go  further 
to-night — and  they  drive  into  another  large  yard  through 
a  stone  building  that  looks  almost  like  a  fort. 


Long  stone  walls  on  either  side  of  it  are  covered  with  a 
mass  of  dry  thorns,  enough  to  keep  a  wolf  from  climbing 
over,  but  only  needing  a  match  from  a  robber,  to  make  us 
quit  the  premises.    Heavy  oaken  gates  close  the  entrance, 

L2 


i8o  TARTAR   CARAVANSERAI 

and  above  them  is  a  gallery  open  both  front  and  back. 
The  yard  is  a  foot  deep  in  mud,  but  as  it  is  frozen  we  are 
not  harmed  by  it.  Inside  the  stone  walls  are  storehouses 
for  firewood,  etc.  etc.,  stables  and  granaries.  Away  on 
the  right  are  three  or  four  underground  houses  burrowed 
in  the  yard  itself! 

"  We  are  asked  to  climb  a  step-ladder  to  the  gallery, 
and  are  shown  into  the  upper  room  on  the  right — our 
quarters  for  the  night ;  as  the  apartment  below  is  for  our 
drivers.  Opposite,  another  party  of  travellers  has  already 
taken  up  a  similar  position.  A  boy  climbs  the  ladder  with 
a  shovel  of  coals,  burning;  a  great  store  of  wood  is 
brought,  and  a  blazing  fire  made. 

"The  room  itself  has  an  earthen  floor,  and  bare  stone 
walls  and  bare  timber  flat  roof  above.  On  the  floor  lie 
three  carpets,  under  which  I  find  '  India '  mats.  One  tiny 
low  table  1 8  inches  square  and  2  feet  high  is  the  only  fur- 
niture. We  unpack,  and  when  the  samovar  comes  we 
make  a  splendid  tea,  the  foundation  of  which  is  four  cakes 
of  Tartar  bread  which  we  bought  at  three  kopeks  a  pound. 
Each  is  about  a  foot  in  diameter,  and  one  inch  thick :  un- 
bolted wheat  meal.  Then  we  have  sardines,  butter,  cheese 
and  other  luxuries,  and  make  a  picnic.  This  is  literally 
'  a  lodge  in  some  vast  wilderness,'  for  no  other  dwelling 
is  within  many  miles  of  us  ! 

"  I  have  made  the  folk  bring  in  a  good  large  stock  of 
wood  for  all  night ;  for  warmth  is  everything  here  now. 
In  summer  the  windows  are  left  open  for  air ;  and  I  see 
everywhere  a  set  of  ornamental  bars  or  grillage  to  keep 
anyone  from  paying  a  visit  through  the  opening  so  left ! 

"It  is  now  half-past  ten  at  night.  Joseph  Neave  has 
put  his  pillow  on  the  floor  and  laid  down  in  his  clothes, 
and  is  now  fast  asleep.  I  am  going  to  put  on  my  great 
wolfskin  shuba  and  do  the  same— so  for  to-night.  Farewell ! 

"  Morning.  We  arranged  ourselves  last  night  in  two 
rows  of  two  each,  heads  to  the  wall  and  feet  to  centre 


RISKS  FROM   ROBBERS  i8i 

of  room  and  influence  of  the  fire.  I  soon  fell  asleep — and 
never  woke  till  the  Odabashi  pushed  open  the  door,  a 
little  before  six,  and  placed  a  loud-singing  samovar  on  the 
floor  ;  presently  following  it  with  a  fresh  armful  of  wood 
for  the  fire. 

"We  have  just  breakfasted.  The  room  is  as  warm  as  a 
toast,  and  we  shall  go  out  into  the  frosty  air  with  a  stock 
of  heat  that  will  last  us  the  rest  of  our  journey— 54  versts 
to  Shusha — a  Persian  fortress — now  belonging  to  Russia. 
It  is  walled,  and  the  gates  are  shut  at  night." 

To  his   Wife. 

Shusha,  8-2-93. 

"We  got  into  this  place  about  six  o'clock  to-night; 
making  two  days'  journey  from  the  Railway  Station  of 
Evelach. 

"  We  find  the  fears  of  our  drivers  were  not  imaginary 
about  robbers.  Four  more  travellers  who  followed  us  last 
night  decided  to  push  on  to  the  next  station,  and  they  were 
all  stripped  of  their  possessions  !  At  the  very  time  I  was 
writing  in  our  caravanserai,  they  were  being  tied  up  and 
their  packages  searched !  And  not  long  since  the  high- 
waymen paid  a  visit  to  the  next  caravanserai  after  the 
travellers  lodging  in  it  were  comfortably  settled  in  for  the 
night,  and  cleared  them  out  of  everything. 

"  This  is  rather  more  than  the  Russian  authorities  can 
stand ;  and  the  district  chief  of  police  has  gone  to  the  scene 
of  the  robbery  with  another  official  to  make  the  needful 
enquiries  on  the  spot.  We  met  them  coming  at  a  tre- 
mendous pace  down  hill ;  a  mounted  and  armed  police 
guard  in  front,  peremptorily  ordering  carriages  and 
camels,  etc.,  out  of  the  way.  A  good  many  camels  have 
met  us  ;  and  wagons,  loaded  with  carpets  and  other  mer- 
chandise. I  never  imagined  when  we  left  England  that 
part  of  our  work  would  lie  in  Persia  ;  but  so  it  is — for  all 
this  district  was  a  Persian  Province  until  the  time  of  the 
Emperor  Nicholas,  I  think.   Almost  everything  is  oriental 


i82  PERSIAN  WOMEN 

in  the  extreme.  We  met  two  or  three  women  this  morning, 
of  the  poorer  class,  yet  each  veiled  in  silk.  One  was 
carrying  her  baby  on  her  back  and  leading  a  little  fellow 
by  the  hand.  At  a  hundred  yards  away,  I  saw  that  her 
silk  hood  was  not  drawn  over  her  face — so  thought  for 
once  I  should  see  what  a  Persian  woman  was  like.  As 
she  drew  within  fifty  yards,  however,  I  saw  her  raise  her 
spare  hand  to  her  mouth,  and  when  she  passed  the  car- 
riage, she  had  a  black  netting  drawn  up  level  with  her 
nose,  but  with  such  large  meshes  that  it  did  not  conceal 
her  mouth.  Another  passed  us  as  we  were  walking  up  a 
hill,  closely  veiled  in  pale  red  plaid  silk,  but  barefoot,  with 
sandals.  That  is,  the  sandals  are  loose  and  at  every  step 
the  foot  lifts  nearly  out  of  them.  They  are  high-heeled  to 
keep  the  toes  well  down  in  them,  or  they  would  constantly 
come  off.  Most  of  the  population  are  Armenian  Persian ; 
and  these  do  not  veil. 

"  We  resumed  our  journey  quickly  after  breakfast;  but 
I  found  I  had  been  mistaken  about  the  extreme  lonesome- 
ness  of  the  spot.  There  were  two  or  three  habitations 
and  another  caravanserai  a  little  further  on.  By  and  by 
the  wood  ended,  and  we  were  again  in  the  open  country — 
at  last  entering  a  valley  with  a  river  in  it,  which  we 
followed  for  many  miles.  Walnut  and  mulberry  trees 
were  frequent;  for  this  is  a  silkworm  district.  By  one 
o'clock  we  came  to  a  small  settlement*  in  which  was  a 
caravanserai  where  we  rested  the  horses  an  hour  and 
a  half,  and  had  lunch.  It  was  in  an  upper  room  like  the 
one  we  had  slept  in— but  smaller,  and  less  tidy.  Three 
panes  broken  in  a  window  we  stopped  by  putting  a  bourka 
against  the  casement.  There  were  two  stools  (no  carpet) 
which  J.  J.  N.  and  I  sat  on.  Our  companions  folded  their 
bourkas  and  squatted  on  them— and  the  Odabashi  made 
his  boy— a  smart  little  fellow  who  kicked  off  his  sandals 
every  time  he  crossed  our  threshold — light  us  a  fire  of 

*  Khan-i-bagh. 


KHAN-I-BAGH 


183 


small  sticks  ;  and  then  he  came  himself  and  spread  a 
camel  cloth  on  the  floor  in  front  of  it  for  our  samovar.  As 
we  carry  all  we  need  with  us,  bread,  butter,  cheese,  tea, 
sugar  and  lemons,  we  soon  made  a  meal,  when  Joseph 
Neave  and  I  started  for  a  walk  in  advance  of  the  carriages. 

"  The  building  we  left  at  Khan-i-bagh  was  like  the  one 
at  Barda  in  general  plan — but  the  open  gallery  ran  all 
along  the  outside  as  well  as  through  the  centre  above 
the  gate,  and  three  or  four  workshops  occupied  the  front 
towards  the  road  on  the  ground  floor ;  especially  a  black- 
smith's, next  the  gate— who  sat  on  the  ground  as  I  looked 
down  on  him  from  the  gallery — forging  nails,  and  talking  to 
two  friends  who  squatted  alongside  of  him  like  Job's  coun- 
sellors, and  I  imagine  as  usefully  employed  as  they  were. 

"  Khan-i-bagh  means  Khan's  garden.  As  there  was  a 
house  up  a  bank  100  yards  off,  with  two  windows  and  a 
door,  I  imagined  some  wealthy  man  lived  in  the  place ; 
and     found 


this  surmise  ,^ 

was    right, 

for  as  I  was 

looking 

back  at  the 

house  I  saw 

two  bullock 

wagons  loaded  with  ice,   unloaded  into  a  cellar  at  the 

end — under  the  mass  of  supporting  masonry,  I  suppose. 

"If  we  should  go  to  Ali  Bek's  to  pass  the  night  on  our 
return  from  Djibrail,  I  hope  to  induce  him  not  to  kill  the 
sheep  he  promised  us.  He  is  a  gentleman ;  but  many 
of  his  class — Tartar  beys — have  a  way  of  not  only  killing 
a  sheep  to  gratify  a  visitor,  but  of  having  his  bloody 
carcase  brought  in  steaming,  to  show  that  he  really  has 
been  killed  on  purpose !  Others  bring  him  to  the  door 
and  cut  his  throat  under  the  very  nose  of  the  guest !  This 
is  a  barbarous  land. 


i84  SHUSHA 

"  We  walked  three  versts  before  our  folk  overtook  us  ; 
gently  rising,  with  sometimes  a  down-hill,  as  we  wound  in 
and  out  among  the  deep  centres  and  lateral  valleys  of 
this  wonderful  series  of  volcanoes.  One  crater  on  our 
left  was  almost  perfect ;  and  basalt  and  lava  on  all  hands 
told  their  own  tale.  We  caught  sight  of  Shusha  again 
and  again  for  two  hours  or  more  before  we  reached  it.  It 
is  right  on  the  top  of  a  mountain,  a  thousand  feet  higher 
than  Snowdon,  above  the  plain  of  the  Koura  ;  and  most  of 
the  elevation  we  have  made  gradually  in  to-day's  journey. 
The  road  is  a  wide  and  good  one,  with  no  bad  gradient  in 
the  whole  105  versts;  but  the  last  hour  especially  it  winds 
and  doubles  to  and  fro  in  a  most  bewildering  way.  I 
looked  down  just  now  upon  a  series  of  six  different  bends 
of  it  far  below  us,  all  going  in  different  directions.  At  last 
we  come  nearly  to  the  walls,  for  it  is  walled  (by  the 
Persians)  though  the  walls  are  no  longer  of  value  as  a 
defence. 

"  We  are  so  near  that  we  can  see  there  is  no  opening 
by  which  we  can  go  in — when  suddenly  a  previously 
unseen  bend  comes  in  view,  and  we  turn  back  again — 
and  then  again  !  At  last  we  find  our  road  (which  is  new) 
passes  through  a  breach  forty  feet  wide  made  for  it 
through  the  city  wall — and  we  drive  up  the  steep  frozen 
street ;  wind  again  to  and  fro  amid  the  quaintest  old 
buildings,  many  in  ruins,  through  the  bazaar,  out-Tiflis-ing 
Tiflis  itself— and  after  a  mile  of  such  entanglements,  pull 
up  in  a  square  or  market  place.  Several  hundreds  of  men 
and  boys  all  surround  us  and  offer  counsel  and  comment 
in  Persian,  in  Russian,  in  Armenian,  and  in  Tartar,  till  the 
whole  sound  is  as  of  a  swarm  of  bees.  Presently  an 
Armenian  and  several  men  and  boys  under  his  rule,  take 
each  an  article  of  our  baggage,  and  we  follow  in  the  tail 
of  their  procession  up  a  side  street  for  a  few  yards,  and 
through  a  door,  up  an  open  staircase  to  a  balcony,  whence 
we  are  conducted  to  a  comfortable  room  18  feet  by  10, 


COMFORTABLE  QUARTERS  185 

papered  d  V europ^enne— oxnr  hotel  and  quarters.  It  is 
nicely  warmed  by  a  stove,  and  an  open  hearth  at  the 
end  can  also  be  utilized.  A  dark-haired  boy  (whose  pay 
I  afterwards  learned  is  one  rouble  a  month)  brings  a  low 
table,  wash-basin  and  ewer,  and  pours  a  little  into  each  of 
our  hands  by  turn  as  we  wash.  Clean  linen  on  our  beds 
promises  rest. 

"  The  samovar  comes ;  and  we  order  fried  fish  for 
supper,  with  a  little  shissllk—rosist  bits  of  mutton  done  on 
the  coals.  An  hour  and  a  half  after  we  have  drunk  our 
tea,  it  comes  !  But  it  is  good— and  we  are  thankful !  for 
the  journey  has  been  extremely  fatiguing. 

"  Fifth-day  morning,  2  mo.  p.  We  have  had  an  ex- 
cellent night's  rest,  notwithstanding  the  difference  between 
European,  or  rather  English,  and  Asiatic  beds.  The 
latter,  here,  are  hard  benches  with  a  couple  of  rugs  laid 
on  them,  no  mattress,  and  one  sheet.  Above,  a  single 
quilt.  The  thing  is  to  lie  still ;  for  if  one  turns  over,  there 
is  nothing  tucked  in,  and  everything  moves,  letting  in  the 
cold.  But  I  had  taken  the  precaution  last  night,  when  our 
boy  brought  in  four  chumps  of  wood  for  the  open  fire 
which  I  got  him  to  light  as  well  as  the  stove,  to  get  hold  of 
his  two  hands — and  pointing  to  the  four  logs,  I  counted  off 
ten  on  his  fingers.  He  grinned  assent,  and  presently 
returned  with  a  further  supply.  His  appreciation  was 
rewarded  with  a  new  lo-kopek  piece  ;  and  this  has  made 
him  our  willing  servant. 

"When  we  arrived  last  evening  we  wanted  a  wash. 
There  is  only  one  basin  and  ewer  for  the  establishment — 
kept  in  a  room  open  to  the  balcony  on  one  side,  outside 
our  door.  Now  this  boy  not  only  poured  a  few  spoonfuls 
into  the  hands  of  each  of  us  in  turn ;  but  after  we  had 
all  washed  and  the  water  was  black,  he  quietly  put  the  jug 
to  stand  in  it  and  left  it  for  the  night.  This  morning  when 
I  was  dressing  I  asked  Fast  to  call  for  the  basin,  etc.  He 
suggested  that  we  must  do  as  the  others  do  in  the  hotel — 


1 86  ORIENTAL  ABLUTIONS 

and  let  the  boy  pour  a  driblet  of  water  on  our  hands.  But 
I  put  my  foot  down.  I  said—'  No ;  I  will  not  be  told 
by  Asiatics  how  I  shall  wash ;  I  will  have  it  my  own  way.' 
After  a  while  the  point  was  carried  triumphantly  :  basin 
cleaned,  and  a  jug  of  hot  and  one  of  cold  water  brought 
into  our  room.  It  really  was  a  treat.  I  ventured  to 
enquire  whether  it  could  not  remain  here,  but  as  it  ap- 
peared this  would  prevent  all  other  occupants  of  the 
premises  from  any  ablution  whatever,  I  waived  the  matter. 
I  had  a  look  at  the  basin  an  hour  after  —  ! ! 

"At  breakfast  when  the  boiling  samovar  came,  we 
enquired  for  eggs.  The  people  of  the  house  thought  it  a 
very  foreign  idea — they  never  eat  them  for  breakfast — 
but  they  sent  out  and  bought  some,  which  we  cooked 
ourselves.  Could  we  have  a  little  milk?  Yes.  In  half 
an  hour  a  saucepan  came  up,  with  half  a  gallon,  hot. 

"  Our  next  journey— to  Gerusi— which  we  start  on  to- 
morrow, at  first  looked  trying.  We  were  told  that  the 
road  is  so  doubtful  from  snow  blocking  it  that  it  would  not 
be  possible  to  travel  with  any  carriage  but  a  fourgon—Si 
four-wheeled  springless  wagon  with  a  half-round  body, 
and  as  many  horses  as  would  serve  for  each  of  us  to  have 
one  to  ride  on  if  we  found  the  way  impassable  at  any  point 
for  further  traffic  on  wheels.  And  as  the  distance  is 
eighty  versts,  we  must  prepare  to  sleep  all  night  in  the 
open  wagon;  no  other  accommodation  probably  being 
available.  Of  course  this  meant  hardship  ;  for  we  are 
high  up  in  the  mountains  in  the  depth  of  winter,  though 
the  wolfskin  furs  would  keep  us  probably  warm  enough 
to  get  some  sleep.  After  fully  deciding  on  this  as  our  only 
way  of  reaching  Gerusi,  we  are  considerably  relieved 
this  morning  by  the  news  that  someone  has  come  down 
from  there  and  reports  the  road  open  the  whole  distance 
for  the  ^o^Xmg  fourgons.  Instead  therefore  of  taking  our 
own  team  (i.e.^  the  one  that  brought  us  here)  we  shall  now 
be  able  to  take  the  customary  post-horses,  and  change 
four  times,  getting  through  in  one  day." 


LEAVING  FOR  GERUSI  187 

To  his   Wife. 

Stantsie  Zabouch,  near  Gerusi,  10-2-93. 

"  After  a  busy  day  yesterday,  we  rose  at  five  this  morn- 
ing to  get  an  early  breakfast  and  start  for  Gerusi — a 
journey  of  eighty  versts,  which  by  using  the  post-horses, 
we  hope  to  finish  by  night.  The  distance  is  about  the 
same  as  from  Gloucester  to  Birmingham,  but  over  a  very 
difficult  mountain  road.  Two  little  wagons,  springless, 
harnessed  with  a  '  troika '  each  (three  horses)  took  our 
party  of  four  and  the  baggage,  Fast  and  Gregorio witch  in 
one,  Joseph  Neave  and  myself  in  the  other.  There  is  just 
room  in  each  for  a  little  luggage  and  the  driver  besides 
two  passengers,  who  have  not  comfortable  elbow  room, 
and  nothing  to  hold  on  to  on  swinging  round  corners. 

"  It  was  seven  o'clock  before  we  got  fairly  under  weigh. 
The  streets  of  Shusha  are  as  steep  as  the  worst  parts  of 
Stroud  or  Redruth;  and  as  we  drove  uphill  our  horses 
slipped  and  scrambled  in  all  directions  on  the  ice.  In  five 
minutes  the  other  wagon  which  started  in  front  of  us, 
pulled  up,  and  after  a  great  deal  of  plunging  and  scraping 
to  get  a  foothold,  down  came  the  off  horse  of  the  three. 
Ours  threatened  to  follow  suit ;  but  we  soon  got  on  better. 
A  long  descent  followed,  over  deeply  trampled  and  rutted 
mud,  frozen  as  hard  as  stone— and  on  which  we  danced 
up  and  down  till  I  began  to  wonder  what  might  be  the 
limit  of  shaking  that  the  human  diaphragm  can  bear.  But 
before  long  we  were  on  a  better  road,  nearly  level,  and 
about  13  feet  wide,  except  in  some  places  where  it  might, 
for  a  few  yards  only,  be  too  narrow  for  two  carts  to  pass. 
It  is  a  new  post  road,  only  opened  nine  days  ago ;  so  that 
we  are  among  its  earliest  passengers. 

"  Soon  we  enter  a  gorge  in  the  never-ending  multitude 
of  mountains— and  our  road  becomes  a  shelf  cut  out  in  the 
face  of  the  rock,  running  for  mile  after  mile  in  loops  and 
bends  following  the  windings  of  the  valleys,  rising  almost 
insensibly  till  we  are  up  some  thousands  of  feet  from  the 


i88 


SAKSARAN 


first  valley  we  left.  The  precipice  on  our  left  varies  from 
45  degrees  to  almost  perpendicular  :  in  numbers  of  places 
the  outer  edge  of  the  road  being  held  up  by  a  dry  stone 
wall  of  10,  15  or  20  feet  before  it  touches  the  natural  sur- 
face of  the  ground.  In  some  bad  places  it  is  laid  on 
faggots  of  oak. 

*'  By  9.30  or  so  we  have  reached  our  first  stage — a 
pretty  spot,  high  up,  but  looked  down  upon  by  the  extinct 
volcano  of  Saksaran,  7,068  feet  high.  It  shows  two  great 
sides  of  the  crater  wall  still  standing  like  cliffs  on  the 
summit.     The  general  look  of  it  is  this  : 


Sahsaran 


"  Hour  after  hour  wore  on  as  we  continued  winding  in 
and  out  of  the  never-ending  mountains  ;  now  rising  gently 
to  the  summit  of  a  dividing  ridge,  now  going  right  down 
to  the  bottom  of  the  next  valley,  and  plunging  through  its 
stream.  In  one  place  we  saw  many  cave-dwellings  of 
Armenians,  cut  in  the  soft  sandy  cliffs  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  valley  :  some  seemingly  inaccessible,  but  probably 
got  at  by  inner  galleries. 

''  By  one  o'clock  we  had  reached  the  second  stage, 
Abdalyarsha,  again  on  a  parting  ridge  of  very  high 
ground.  Just  before  reaching  the  '  Stantsie,'  the  bare 
hills  began  to  be  relieved  by  arbor  vitae,  which  here  took 
the  place  of  the  deciduous  trees  (oaks,  etc.)  we  had  seen 
in  the  valleys.     The  farthest  line  of  mountains  is  the  last 


RIVER  AKARA  189 

series  in  Russia  to  the  south.  Bartaz  is  the  highest  on  the 
left  in  this  line— 7,490  feet  high.  On  the  other  side  of  that 
range,  and  at  their  base,  runs  the  River  Arax,  or  Aras,  or 
'  Araxes,'  margining  the  present  Persia. 

"  We  find  all  the  post  horses  are  gone  from  the  station. 
We  have  the  right  to  the  first  that  come  in ;  but  they  must 
first  have  two  hours'  rest.  Meantime  a  fire  is  lighted  in 
the  station- room— an  apartment  12  feet  by  10,  very  rough 
and  ready— and  the  samovar  brought.  We  make  a  good 
meal ;  and  then  Joseph  Neave  and  I  decide  to  walk  on. 
As  the  wagons  will  not  start  till  three,  possibly  half-past, 
we  shall  have  to  give  up  our  idea  of  getting  to  our  jour- 
ney's end  to-night,  and  sleep  at  the  next  station. 

"  For  an  hour  and  a  half  we  walk  leisurely  on,  cutting 
across  comers  and  loops  of  the  post  road,  and  plunging 
down  the  steep  hill  sides,  for  there  are  no  perpendicular 
cliffs  here  to  oblige  us  to  keep  on  the  track.  At  last  we 
come  out  into  a  valley  of  nearly  a  verst  in  width,  and  the 
loud  sound  of  water  warns  us  that  we  can  go  no  further 
till  the  wagons  come  up  with  us.  We  are  on  the  banks  of 
the  River  Akara — a  fast-rushing  stream  of  some  two  feet 
in  depth,  and  from  50  to  100  feet  wide.  It  is  a  lovely 
sunny  afternoon,  and  we  fill  up  our  time  by  searching 
among  the  shingle  of  the  strand  for  pebbles  that  may  be 
worth  bringing  home. 

"By  and  by  a  horseman  rides  up,  says  something  to 
us  in  Russian,  to  which  I  can  only  give  my  stereotyped 
reply,  and  in  a  few  minutes,  after  hesitating,  he  rides 
through  the  river  and  disappears  up  the  opposite  hill.  I 
can  now  see  what  he  meant.  Finding  us  moving  about 
the  bank  he  no  doubt  thought  we  wanted  help  to  cross  the 
water,  and  so  offered  to  take  us  on  horseback.  Soon 
after  he  has  gone,  however,  the  wagons  come  up  ;  and 
when  we  are  seated,  the  drivers  head  the  troika  for  the 
ford.  They  pull  up  in  the  middle,  to  drink ;  and  then 
plimging  in  and  out  among  the  boulders,    the    wagon 


I90  ZABOUCH 

lurching  to  and  fro  as  its  wheels  strike  the  obstacles,  we 
get  on  to  terra  finna. 

"This  river  Akara  runs  into  the  Araxes.  Just  after 
the  part  where  we  ford  it,  it  enters  a  narrower  defile, 
and  for  the  lofty  cliffs  that  overhang  it  we  are  now 
making ;  for  our  road  goes  on  in  many  a  loop  and  double 
S  until  we  are  at  a  dizzy  elevation,  looking  down  on 
the  winding  river  below.  Our  road  is  again  only  a  twelve 
feet  shelf  or  ledge  cut  on  the  side  of  the  slope  ;  often  the 
latter  is  as  steep  as  60  or  70  degrees ;  and  we  are  running 
on  snow,  with  alternations  of  sheet  ice  where  the  sun  has 
melted  it  and  the  evening  air  again  frozen  it.  Our  driver 
is  rather  less  careful  than  some  we  have  had,  and  he 
swings  along  in  a  happy-go-lucky  way  that  keeps  me 
nervous,  for  our  wheels  skid  sideways  on  the  smooth 
surface  sometimes.  But  at  last  we  are  descending  again, 
and  it  is  still  daylight  when  the  man  makes  a  short  cut 
over  a  very  steep  bit  of  rough  mountain  side,  instead  of 
following  the  final  bend  of  the  road — and  we  are  in  the 
Stantsie  Zabouch.  Here  we  must  sleep  ;  and  here  we 
learn  for  the  first  time  that  we  can  go  no  further  on 
wheels.  We  have  still  some  fifty  versts  to  go,  to  reach 
Gerusi ;  and  as  the  post  road  is  blocked,  we  are  told  we 
must  go  on  horseback.  Sufficient  to  the  day  is  the  evil 
thereof,  and  we  must  do  the  best  we  can  for  to-night. 

*' We  go  up  a  wooden  outside  stairs  to  a  couple  of  small 
rooms,  of  which  the  inner  is  our  lodging.  It  is  dirty 
enough— but  I  lift  the  samovar  on  to  one  of  the  low  tables 
that  are  to  be  our  bedsteads  and  turn  the  tap,  signifying 
to  the  Tartar  who  attends  as  a  servant  that  it  must  be 
wiped  with  a  cloth.  He  does  this  ;  and  then  we  send  him 
to  the  village  for  bread  and  eggs.     Milk?    There  is  none. 

"  Presently  he  brings  twenty  eggs,  for  which  we  pay 
twenty-two  kopeks  ;  and  four  sheets  of  bread,  thin  and 
tough  as  brown  paper,  for  five  kopeks  ;  i.e.,  a  pound 
weight,  Russian.     Then  the  Yuzbashi  comes,  to  lend  us 


ZABOUCH 


191 


carpets  and  two  mattresses  to  lie  on.  (Yuz  is  Tartar  for 
hundred,  so  that  Yuzbashi  means  '  head  of  the  hundred.* 
He  is  in  reality  the  chief  man  of  the  village,  answering  to 
the  Starosta  in  Russia,  or  the  Maire  of  a  French  Com- 
mune.) Fast  and  Gregorio witch  make  up,  with  these,  beds 
on  the  floor ;  Joseph  Neave  and  I  sleep  on  the  wooden 
stands.  I  undress  and  get  into  my  wolfskin  shuba  as 
between  sheets.  It  is  a  wonderful  help  to  a  night's  rest — 
for  I  can  keep  warm  in  it  anywhere.  Yet  the  unusual 
surroundings  keep  one  thinking ;  and  I  wake  at  midnight 


The  large  house  is  the  etape  prison  as  seen  from  the  steps  of 
our  Stantsie.  The  slightly  curved  roofs  level  with  the  ground 
at  back,  of  the  Tartar  huts,  rise  in  irregular  tiers  behind. 

for  a  long  while  thinking  of  home  ;  not,  I  hope,  in  any 
spirit  of  wishing  to  cut  short  the  work  here — for  I  remem- 
ber that  if  I  were  a  soldier  of  the  Queen's,  I  should  not  be 
a  good  soldier  if  I  shunned  the  privations  of  war ;  and 
miserably  deficient  as  I  know  I  am  in  the  higher  service, 
yet  I  have  been  called  to  it,- and  I  wish  to  do  it  faithfully 
in  my  small  measure.  The  River  Zabouch  runs  at  the 
bottom  of  the  dell ;  and  as  I  lie  silent  I  hear  its  sweet 
never-ending  melody,  on  its  way  to  the  Araxes,  till  it  lulls 
me  to  sleep  again. 


192  FORDING  A  RIVER 

"  We  open  our  door  wide  to  the  morning  sunshine,  at 
six  o'clock,  and  again  I  enjoy  the  loud  sound  of  the  stream. 
We  must  cross  the  little  river,  and  there  is  no  bridge, 
so  we  all  mount  horses  and  wend  our  way  to  the  bank. 
First  rides  Gregoriowitch  in  his  uniform,  his  sword  swing- 
ing ostentatiously  by  his  side.  Next,  Fast,  in  his  bourka. 
Third,  Joseph  Neave  on  a  bay  horse.  Fourth,  myself— 
on  another  bay.  Fifth,  a  Tartar  with  one  half  our  bag- 
gage most  cleverly  arranged  and  strapped— portmanteau, 
baskets,  etc.— and  he  on  the  top,  camel- wise.  Lastly, 
[another]  Tartar  perched  on  the  rest  of  the  baggage,  and 
armed  with  dagger  and  breech-loading  rifle  !  There  is  no 
persuading  these  people  that  we  would  rather  they  took 
no  weapons.  It  is  impossible  at  present  to  get  the  idea 
into  their  heads  !  Only  last  night  Gregoriowitch  was 
talking  it  over  with  Fast ;  and  he  still  believes  that  our 
objection  is  not  to  arms,  but  to  the  peculiar  style  of 
weapons  of  the  country.  He  is  a  very  nice  thoughtful 
man ;  and  we  hope  to  see  him  more  clearly  informed 
before  he  leaves  us.  He  was  very  earnest  in  listening  to 
something  J.  J.  N.  said  the  other  day  in  the  ministry — and 
would  like  to  have  the  words  '  written  down,  for  they 
were  good  words,'  he  said. 

"  One  after  another  our  horses  crept  down  the  steep 
bank  to  the  river,  and  got  across  among  the  rolling 
boulders.  Then  in  Indian  file  we  entered  a  gorge  in  the 
mountain  opposite,  and  scrambled  up  the  bank,  steeper 
and  steeper,  along  a  path  every  foot  of  which  had  loose 
stones  and  pieces  of  lava  on  it.  Stepping  up,  and  down, 
and  sideways — one  horse  turning  to  the  right  while  the 
one  behind  him  was  facing  left,  and  the  rest  at  all  angles 
by  turn,  we  kept  steadily  ascending. 

"  I  begin  to  think  it  a  mistake  to  try  to  give  any  idea  in 
a  sketch,  of  the  sort  of  path  we  followed  for  some  versts ; 
but  we  went  on  climbing  the  edges  of  such  steeps,  some- 
times 200  or  300  feet  above  the  valley  below  ;  the  valleys 


DIFFICULT   TRAVELLING  193 

of  course  rising  too,  as  we  get  farther  back  into  the 
mountains.  One  slab  of  rock  took  up  all  the  path  but 
six  inches.  It  was  covered  with  marks  of  scratches  from 
horseshoes ;  but  a  real  slip  would  have  sent  horse  and 
rider  hopelessly  into  the  ravine  below. 


"  When  we  had  got  to  about  two  thousand  feet  higher 
than  the  village,  we  were  glad  to  get  out  of  the  precipice 
path  on  to  a  great  table-land  of  snow  of  but  gentle  slope. 
My  Tartar  however  thought  it  now  safe  to  let  the  horses 
generally  have  a  good  strapping  (he  had  lent  me  his  whip, 
most  fortunately — or  it  would  have  been  worse  !)  I  re- 
gretted that  my  ignorance  of  the  language  prevented  my 
being  able  to  speak  effectively  to  him,  as  it  also  prevented 
my  interpreting  some  remarks  of  his  to  his  companion; 
I  incline  to  believe  having  reference  to  my  horsemanship. 
We  came  to  a  sort  of  dyke,  down  which  my  horse  was 
picking  his  way  carefully  and  safely,  when  the  Tartar 
stole  up  behind  and  gave  him  a  whack  that  made  him  start 

M 


194  AN  ARMENIAN  VILLAGE 

and  miss  a  foothold.  He  did  not  actually  fall,  but  plunged 
so  that  I  should  have  gone  over  his  head  but  for  the 
pommel  of  the  saddle — one  of  the  best  things  among  this 
barbarous  people.  It  is  a  real  handle,  and  an  instant 
grip  of  this  saved  me. 

"  Joseph  Neave  got  off  and  walked,  as  we  had  originally 
intended— for  I  forgot  to  say  that  after  crossing  the  stream 
and  jumping  up  on  to  the  bank,  I  had  suggested  that  we 
might  keep  our  seats  for  a  verst  or  two — not  dreaming  of 
what  was  coming !  When  it  came  to  a  descent  I  dis- 
mounted too— for  I  looked  upon  this  as  more  risky  than 
going  up.  At  the  bottom  of  the  valley  into  which  we  had 
come  I  got  on  again,  to  ride  up  to  the  Stantsie  in  the 
Armenian  village  of  Dyk. 

"  Hundreds  of  families  came  out  to  see  us  pass  ;  or 
were  already  out  enjoying  the  hot  sunshine.  Old  men 
sitting  on  their  housetops,  with  their  legs  dangling  in  the 
air  ;  women  in  all  brilliant  colours,  scarlet  and  green  and 
blue — scarlet  predominating — standing  in  their  porticoes, 
with  groups  of  children  similarly  attired  in  bright  hues. 
As  we  wound  slowly  along  the  ledges,  which  were  at  most 
five  or  six  feet  in  width — a  retaining  wall  or  the  houses 
themselves  on  our  right,  and  a  sheer  drop  of  fifteen  to 
twenty-five  feet  perpendicular  on  our  left,  the  roofs  of 
the  next  row  of  houses  at  the  foot  of  this  drop  (and  so 
stage  after  stage,  both  below  and  above  us) — we  could 
barely  give  room  to  the  men  who  were  standing  in  the 
'  street ' — if  I  must  call  it  a  street — without  endangering 
our  horses'  foothold.  Worst  of  all  was  a  little  donkey 
loaded  with  firewood,  projecting  a  most  unreasonable 
distance  from  his  sides.  If  I  rode  outside  of  him  he  would 
push  me  over  the  cliff;  if  inside,  I  should  send  him  over. 
I  kept  patiently  behind  him  till  he  got  to  a  little  passing 
place.  A  ferocious  brute  of  a  '  Strabo  '—a  dog  as  fierce 
as  a  lion— came  barking  at  us  ;  and  I  was  debating  what 
would  happen  to  the  calf  of  my  leg,  when  my  Tartar,  to 


ARMENIAN  LIFE  195 

whom  I  had  restored  his  whip,  used  it  in  such  wise  that 
by  dogs  we  were  troubled  no  further.  Where  the  houses 
were  level  with  us  we  could  see  their  arrangement,  and 
the  dark  Jewish  faces  of  the  women,  veiled  over  the  mouth. 

*'In  the  dell  below  were  the  massive  stone  arches  of 
three  boulaks  or  fountains — many  women  drawing  water 
at  them,  and  shouldering  their  copper  vessels  to  carry  it 
home  in  admirably  oriental  style. 

"  Before  I  leave  Dyk  I  must  mention  that  its  frightful 
misdrainage  caused  great  havoc  last  summer  with  the 
cholera.  The  people  are  very  ignorant  and  superstitious  ; 
and  someone  having  suggested  that  the  way  to  stop  its 
ravages  was  to  bury  the  bodies  of  those  who  died  of  it, 
face  downwards,  they  set  to  work  and  reopened  the 
graves,  and  turned  all  the  corpses  over  on  their  faces. 
Of  course  the  cholera  spread  fiercely  after  this.  Three 
hundred  died  in  this  one  village. 

''  It  was  now  a  long  walk  over  plains  of  snow  on  top  of 
the  mountains.  Emerging  from  the  environing  circle  of 
heights,  the  landscape  opened  away  on  the  south  to  a  great 
plain,  on  the  far  side  of  which  was  the  magnificent  barrier 
of  mountains  looking  down  on  the  Araxes  and  Persia.  It 
is  fifty  miles  away — and  before  it  is  a  sea  of  the  softest 


blue— too  ethereal  for  this  world— and  yet  too  real  not  to 
be.  It  is  more  beautiful  than  the  clear  blue  sky  above  us, 
more  lovely  than  any  painter  could  paint,  or  than  any  poet 
could  find  words  to  describe.  Yet  if  scenery  could  give 
power  to  either  painter  or  poet,  surely  it  would  be  here  in 
these  Armenian  mountains  and  in  yonder  everlasting  hills 
whose  forms  were  known  to  the  Assyrian  kings  as  well 

M2 


196      NEAR  THE  PERSIAN  BORDER 

as  to  Darius,  and  daily  looked  upon  by  Cyrus  through  all 
his  earlier  years,  and  woven  into  his  very  dreams.  Yes, 
that  Cyrus  dreamed  of  those  mountains  of  the  Araxes  I  am 
as  certain  as  that  I  am  dreaming  here  myself,  alone. 

"  My  companion,  after  asking  if  I  would  ride  again 
when  the  horses  came  up,  and  finding  I  would  do  so, 
decided  to  finish  the  journey  on  foot,  and  went  on  ;  and  I 
am  alone  on  this  great  plain  of  snow,  quietly  walking  after 
him  when  I  have  finished  my  little  outline  above.  Sud- 
denly as  I  look  up  I  see  two  figures  on  horseback  in  the 
distance,  and  as  they  draw  near,  I  see  a  gentleman  in  the 
Russian  military  uniform,  and  a  lady  in  black,  who  by  her 
veil  must  be  a  Tartar.  He  asks  me  something  in  a  voice 
of  cultivated  tone— but  I  am  obliged  again  to  fall  back  on 
'  Ya  Anglitchanin  ;  ya  ne  gavarou  pa  Rousky.  Perevost- 
chik  pridiyot '  (pointing  back.)  '  I  am  an  Englishman ;  I 
can't  speak  Russ.  The  interpreter  is  coming.'  I  was  so 
full  of  Bartaz  and  the  Araxes  that  it  never  occurred  to  me 
to  try  French  with  the  strangers;  they  understood  my 
difficulty  however,  and  passed  on.  I  found  afterwards 
that  they  were  a  Tartar  Bek  and  his  wife. 

"  The  descent  into  the  next  dell  was  difficult  from  the 
sun  melting  the  snow,  and  leaving  the  volcanic  debris 
a  soft,  very  adhesive  mud,  that  held  down  my  goloshes, 
and  unless  I  took  care,  pulled  them  off.  At  the  bottom  the 
path  turned  sharply  to  the  left,  and  in  rounding  the  corner 
I  found  myself  suddenly  face  to  face  with  four  Tartars 
armed  to  the  teeth.  Ordinarily  I  should  expect  as  a  very 
likely  thing  to  be  robbed ;  but  I  am  not  here  in  my  own 
will,  and  I  am  perfectly  certain  of  protection  by  my 
Master.  I  pass  them  cheerfully  with  *  Salaam,'  and  they 
courteously  give  me  their  own  (initial)  greeting  '  Salam 
maluchim !  '  *  Peace  be  to  you !  '—a  word  they  never 
deign  to  say  to  an  Armenian.  I  do  not  think  that  life  is  so 
lightly  esteemed  in  any  other  part  of  the  world  as  here  on 
the  border  of  Persia. 


ARRIVAL  AT   GERUSI 


197 


"When  the  horses  overtook  me  it  was  at  the  entrance 
of  a  glen  with  no  road  at  all  in  it ;  nothing  but  a  mountain 
stream.  There  was  but  little  water  running  in  it ;  plenty 
of  ice  and  boulders.  Up  this  stream  we  went,  the  horses 
feeling  their  foothold  among  the  rocks  ;  now  crawling 
down  a  bank ;  now  leaping  and  scrambling  out  again  to  a 
bed  of  the  higher  or  spring  torrent-level  when  the  snows 
melt.  When  that  comes,  of  course  no  living  thing  could 
stand  here.  Rocks  and  boulders  are  driven  down,  tearing 
fresh  passages  for  themselves,  and  gradually  changing 
even  *  the  everlasting  hills  '  into  plains ! 

"After  more  ups  and  downs  we  again  come  out  on  a 
plateau  covered  with  snow ;  and  at  last  look  down  some 
couple  of  thousand  feet  below  us,  on  Gerusi.  It  is  a 
village,  at  first  sight,  of  European  houses  ;  but  on  nearer 
acquaintance  two  villages,  for  an  Armenian  settlement 
stands  back  in  the  hollows  of  the  slope  we  must  now 
descend.  But  how  to  get  down  there  ?  The  Tartars 
swing  cheerily  on  with  no  idea  of  danger  ;  and  we  have 
to  trust  to  the  horses  as  before. 

"  At  last  we  got  to  the  valley,  and  in  a  few  minutes 

were  in  the  yard  of  the  cara- 
vanserai. As  it  is  a  fine 
sunny  afternoon  we  unloaded 
our  luggage  in  the  yard  and 
sat  outside  while  a  Tartar 
youth  wiped  our  floor  with  a 
wet  cloth,  and  cleaned  the 
little  table.  He  looks  as  much 
like  a  Cranham  gipsy  as  can 
be ;  except  that  he  shaves 
his  head  as  a  Mahometan. 
He  does  not  dye  his  beard 
with  henna,  like  his  master,  who  owns  the  place  and 
superintends  the  arrangements— for  the  simple  reason  that 
he,  Ali  Hassan,  has  as  yet  no  beard  to  dye.     As  soon  as 


198  ALI  AKBER 

he  has  done  the  floor,  he  lights  a  fire  in  the  little  iron 
stove ;  and  as  the  hole  in  the  wall  sends  the  smoke  back 
into  the  room,  he  fetches  a  double  handful  of  mud  from  the 
yard  and  plasters  it  up.* 

"He  is  helped  by  a  bright  boy  of  twelve  or  fourteen, 
Ali  Akber.  He  has  a  very  nice  face,  dark  as  a  Hindoo, 
and  large  expressive  eyes.  Though  a  Tartar  he  has 
learnt  Russian  at  school,  and  speaks  it  well.  Is  very 
glad  to  answer  any  of  our  questions.  ^  How  many  Prophets 
are  there  ?'  '144  thousand.'  Then  he  gives  the  names  of 
some  :  Ibrahim,  and  Sheof  (Job)  figure  among  them.  I 
suggest  Da-veed,  and  Salomon?  Yes.  They  were  pro- 
phets ;  but  not  Veliki  propMten  (not  great  ones.)  There 
are  only  five  Veliki :  Ibrahim  and  Natch  (Noah)  and 
Yakoob  and  Eesus  and  Mahomet. 

'*  Does  he  intend  to  become  a  MoUah  ?  '  Niet ! '  To  be 
a  Mollah  one  must  go  to  Persia  or  to  Turkey  to  learn ; 
and  he  does  not  wish  to  go  to  either.  Ali  Akber  stands 
by  the  door  after  he  has  done  our  fire  for  the  last  time  at 
night,  listening  in  rapt  attention  to  our  reading  in  the 
Psalms.  We  hand  the  Russian  Psalms  to  Gregorio witch, 
P^RS/A»J  "^^^j^  and  he  reads  it  after  the  English,  a  few 
verses  at  a  time— (Psalm  32)— so  that 
he  and  Ali  may  understand  it.  Both  are 
evidently  very  thoughtful.  Ali  had  kept 
coming  in  earlier  in  the  evening  to  look 
to  the  lamp,  to  pour  water  over  our 
hands  for  washing,  from  a  beautiful 
Persian  jug  into  a  new  brass  dish  (bought 
^£^ —  on  purpose  for  us,)  to  bring  me  svetchki 
^  (candles,)  and  so  on.  I  showed  him  the 
sketches  in  this  letter— to  his  great  delight,  and  then  let 
him  have  a  look  at  you — the  group  photograph  from  home. 
"Ali  has  been  a  smart  lad  at  school,  and  he  carried  a 
blacklead  pencil  and  a  piece  of  paper  in  his  pocket,  in 
token  of  his  being  a  Mirza  (writer.)  He  is  entitled  to  sign 
*See  sketch  on  previous  page. 


CAVE  DWELLINGS 


199 


his  name  as  '  Mirsa  Ali  Akber '  in  consequence  of  this 
acquirement ;  one  may  almost  call  it  a  B.A.  degree,  as 
things  go  here.  He  must  not  put  the  Mirza  after  his 
name  —  that  mescns  ^  Prince.'    *    *    * 

"  We  have  had  one  walk  up  into  the  Armenian  Village. 
It  is  a  place  of  exceeding  interest — there  are  500  houses, 

part  of  them 
half  under- 
ground in  the 
slant  of  the  hill, 

id /•    "^^^^^^^^^ISI^/r'^ini'K^^il       ^"^  P^^^  caves 

ers  and  spires 
of  sandy  con- 
glomerate that 
cover  the 
mountain  side. 
I  begged  per- 
mission to  go 
into  one  of  these  homes.  A  parley  with  two  veiled 
women  seemed  likely  to  fail,  when  fortunately  the  husband 
came  home  in  the  nick  of  time.  After  silencing  a  furious 
Strabo  by  a  punch  in  the  ribs,  we  were  courteously  asked 
in.  It  was  intensely  interesting  to  sit  down  on  the  car- 
peted bench  in  a  cave-dwelling,  and  see  the  ancient  loom, 
and  the  spinning  wheel  as  old  as  the  Babylonian  Empire  ; 
and  the  oven  in  the  middle  of  the  floor  ;  and  many  things 
besides. 

"In  the  cave,  shown  above  in  the  crag  on  the  right, 
dwells  a  potter.  He  has  built  a  kiln  just  outside  the  door, 
in  which  besides  pots,  pitchers,  etc.,  he  makes  the  ovens 
like  those  I  saw  at  Tiflis.  Round  at  the  back  of  this  cave, 
in  the  next  cliff,  I  found  a  stable,  similarly  hollowed  from 
the  rock.  Standing  at  the  back,  and  looking  across  a 
small  dell,  we  saw  a  funeral.  The  burial  grounds  are 
almost  always  unfenced;  and  this  one  was.    A  procession 


200  ARMENIAN  FUNERAL 

of  sixty  or  eighty  people  came  down  to  it  from  the  shoulder 
of  the  opposite  hill.  A  child's  coffin  was  borne  in  front,  by 
one  man,  (on  his  back)  and  the  ceremony  consisted  for  the 
most  part  of  singing.  It  lasted  some  twenty-five  minutes ; 
and  then  several  men  brought  to  the  grave,  each  a  stone 
as  large  as  he  could  carry,  from  a  heap  evidently  kept  for 
the  purpose.  No  doubt  the  loading  a  new  grave  with 
such  stones  is  a  necessary  protection  in  such  a  country, 
from  wolves  or  other  wild  animals  digging  up  the  body. 

"  Descending  through  the  village  we  had  the  same 
scene  of  beautiful  colouring  I  have  already  mentioned — 
for  while  the  Armenian  men  and  boys  wear  coffee-brown 
tunics,  or  sometimes  blue,  and  blue  trousers,  the  majority 
of  the  women  dress  in  Turkey  red  ('  Karmir,')  and  as  they 
stood  or  sat  in  their  doorways  or  on  the  roofs  of  the 
houses,  the  whole  effect  was  really  beautiful.  From  the 
timbers  of  one  porch  a  swing  was  suspended ;  and  a  little 
thing  of  two  years  old  or  so  was  enjoying  it !  We  walked 
either  along  the  streets,  or  on  the  roofs  of  the  houses  as 
we  chose.  The  chimneys  came  up  in  the  most  unexpected 
places  ;  once,  in  the  middle  of  the  road  ! 

"  We  left  Gerusi  for  Shusha  on  Second-day  morning  at 
9.30 — J.  J.  Neave  and  I  deciding  to  walk  back  to  Dyk; 
for  I  agreed  with  him  in  preferring  our  own  feet  to  a 
horse's.  We  took  a  track  not  quite  so  direct  as  we  might 
have  done — and  did  not  arrive  at  the  Stantsie  of  Dyk  till 
two  o'clock ;  for  the  sun  was  exceedingly  hot,  and  the 
snow  giving  way  under  our  feet  very  tiring. 

*'  At  the  Stantsie  we  did  not  stay  longer  than  to  get 
a  quick  meal,  for  we  found  the  snow-blocked  section  of 
road  between  this  and  Zabouch  was  now  sufficiently  pass- 
able for  the  mail  to  have  come  in  by  a  '  troika '  wagon,  and 
we  were  able  to  use  this  on  its  return  journey.  Joseph 
Neave  preferred  walking  all  the  way  to  Zabouch.  Fast 
went  on  horseback  to  accompany  him  ;  for  our  Russians 
are  not  such  walkers  as  the  English.     Gregoriowitch  and 


RIVER  ZABOUCH  201 

I  took  the  troika— exchanging  at  rare  intervals  a  word  or 
two  in  French,  which  tongue  he  learned  at  school,  and  has 
some  little  remembrance  of. 

"  Eight  versts  before  we  could  reach  our  Stantsie  we 
could  see  where  it  lay.  The  last  two  or  three  were  down 
a  mountain  I  should  think  1,200  feet  to  the  valley.  In 
the  very  bottom  was  the  Tartar  village,  and  the  pretty 
green  stream,  with  mulberry  trees  on  both  its  banks; 
the  same  river  Zabouch  I  have  [already]  mentioned. 

''  At  last  we  have  got  down  to  its  level.  It  is  deeper 
from  melting  snow,  than  when  we  crossed  it  on  horseback ; 
and  we  only  barely  escape  damaging  our  baggage,  as  we 
are  dragged  by  main  force  amid  the  shifting  boulders  and 
eddying  waters.  The  horses  at  any  rate  are  the  better 
for  the  plunge,  for  they  were  loaded  with  mud  ;  and  now 
they  are  as  clean  as  new  pennies  ! 

"And  here  we  are  back  in  the  Stantsie  of  our  Tartar 
village,  with  a  good  fire  in  our  stove,  and  prepared  for  a 
sound  night's  rest  before  to-morrow's  heavy  wagon  ride 
to  Shusha,  of  40  versts  odd.  I  believe  a  week  or  two  of 
roughing  it  and  walking  like  to-day's  work  would  make 
me  as  strong  as  I  have  ever  been  in  my  life.  It  is  very 
different  from  Upton  Knoll  with  its  bath-room,  to  turn  out 
as  I  did  at  dusk  this  evening  with  my  soap  and  sponge 
and  go  down  to  the  brook  to  enjoy  a  wash  in  unlimited 
cold  water  !  This  comparison  is  not  intended  to  the  dis- 
paragement of  Upton,  to  which  after  all  I  shall  get  re- 
accustomed  very  soon ;  but  as  a  contrast  to  little  All 
pouring  leaks  of  water  into  my  hand  from  his  Persian  jug. 
To  do  the  boy  justice  he  was  anxious  to  do  all  he  could  for 
us,  and  very  gladly  fetched  more  water  when  the  quantum 
was  exhausted.  He  wrote  his  name  in  my  book  just  now, 
in  Russian ;  and  when  I  asked  him,  repeated  his  auto- 
graph in  Arabic.     Ali  Akber  is  decidedly  a  Mirza ! 

"  The  pleasant  sound  of  the  river  Zabouch  is  filling  all  the 
silence  of  the  night— and  my  face  is  homeward  so  far  as 


202  DANGEROUS  ROAD 

the  main  part  of  our  work  is  concerned.     So,  for  the 
moment,  Farewell !  " 

The  following  morning  the  party  left  Zabouch,  continuing 
their  return  journey  to  Shusha,  which  they  reached  that 
night. 

2  mo.  14,  1893. 

*'  No  one  can  form  the  least  idea  of  the  difficulty  of  such 
a  journey  as  this  to  Gerusi  [from  Shusha]  by  looking  at 
the  map,  which  gives  it  forty  versts  as  the  crow  flies ; 
whereas  the  actual  measured  distance  on  the  post  road 
is  eighty.  And  the  to  and  fro  of  this  eighty  versts 
takes  the  same  time  that  it  does  from  London  to  Peters- 
burg— four  days  !  while  it  is  incomparably  more  fatiguing 
than  to  travel  from  England  to  Russia  ! 

"  It  grew  dark  before  we  had  ended  the  run — so  dark 
that  I  could  no  longer  distinguish  the  edge  of  the  precipice 
just  below  me,  for  I  took  the  outside  seat;  but  I  knew 
what  it  was  from  having  gone  over  the  ground  five  days 
ago.  The  worst  places  are  where  the  edge  has  given 
way  and  been  mended  with  faggots.  Where  a  rill  crosses 
the  road,  back  in  a  gorge,  it  eats  away  the  ground,  and 
the  wheel  goes  bump  down  into  the  notch  in  a  very 
unpleasant  way ;  and  while  the  horses  always  manage  to 
keep  clear  of  newly  fallen  blocks  of  stone  lying  in  the  way, 
once  in  a  while  the  wheel  does  wo^— and  a  hit  against 
a  large  stone  of  this  sort  this  evening  shook  me  for  an 
instant  off  the  seat !  But  it  is  over— and  we  have  indeed 
cause  to  feel  very  thankful  to  have  been  brought  through 
all  our  hardest  mountain  travelling  in  safety,  health,  and 
strength ! 

"  Before  it  grew  quite  dark  we  could  see  the  great 
limestone  cliff  from  a  long  distance,  that  crowns  the  hill  of 
Shusha.  It  is  a  singular  sight.  On  the  top  of  a  volcanic 
mountain  (I  believe)  of  over  5,000  feet  high,  comes  a  per- 
pendicular wall  of  cliff,  of  from  one  to  two  hundred  feet 
deep,  three    quarters  of  a  mile   or  more  long,  by  one 


SHUSHA  CLIFFS  203 

quarter  of  a  mile  broad.  The  end  is  so  exactly  like  a 
castle  that  it  is  not  easy  to  think  it  merely  natural,  yet 
it  certainly  is  so. 


"2  mo.  IS'  We  left  between  one  and  two  o'clock  for 
the  railway  to  Elizabethpol  and  Tiflis.  It  is  hard  for  us 
English  folk  to  realize  a  two  days'  drive  to  the  station,  but 
this  is  what  it  is,  for  the  distance  is  105  versts.  The  road 
is  in  good  order  now,  for  the  snow  is  gone,  and  by  six 
o'clock  we  had  reached  a  Tartar  village,  Agdam,  to  which 
a  posting  Stantsie  is  annexed  on  rather  a  large  scale  ;  and 
the  building  in  which  we  have  our  quarters  to-night  is 
a  singular  compound  of  hotel  and  caravanserai." 

To  his  Wife. 

Agdam,  15-2-93. 

"  Agdam  is  a  Tartar  settlement  on  the  post-road  from 

Shusha  to  the  Railway.     We  are  just  at  the  end  of  the 

mountains,  and  on  the  edge  of  the  steppe.     It  is  a  most 

welcome  change ;   for  while  a  little  mountain  scenery 

is  very  pleasing,  such  an  amount  as  we  have  had  fills  one 

with  very  different  feelings.     To  be  shut  in  day  after  day 

by  black  gigantic  cliffs  of  lava,  and  to  ride  from  sunset  to 

dark  along  precipices,  is  a  very  depressing  experience,  as 


204  CARAVANSERAI  OF  BARDA 

well  as  a  very  exhausting  one,  physically.  I  am  as  well 
as  need  be,  yet  aching  in  every  limb  from  the  tremendous 
jolting  of  the  last  few  days. 

"  Sixth-day,  2  mo.  17.  We  did  fairly  well  at  Agdam, 
and  managed  to  get  some  sleep  in  spite  of  the  dirty  floors. 
At  one  we  stopped  at  the  caravanserai  of  Barda.  The 
general  outline  of  the  place  is  like  that  I  have  already 
described ;  but  the  rooms  are  here  approached  from  a  bal- 
conied platform  of  five  feet  or  so  from  the  ground.  A  very 
rough  step-ladder  gives  access  to  it ;  that  is,  on  condition 
of  one's  making  a  giant-stride  to  begin  with,  for  the  bottom 
step  was  gone.  The  room,  exceedingly  dirty,  is  paved 
with  coarse  tiles,  not  set  close ;  and  two  square  yards  in 
the  centre  have  apparently  gone  to  look  for  the  ladder  step ! 

"  I  felt  for  once  degoute.  I  have  stood  a  good  deal  on 
this  journey— eating  Tartar  bread,  and  Armenian  ditto  ; 
and  cheese  that  never  had  any  connection  with  cow's 
milk,  to  say  nothing  of  a  loaf  laid  on  a  pillow,  and  a  salt- 
cellar kept  beside  the  brush  and  comb  on  the  dressing- 
table.  To  watch  a  man,  while  one  is  eating,  cleaning 
one's  goloshes  with  his  coat-tails,  and  a  boy  cutting  the 
mud  splashes  off  Gregoriowitch's  uniform  with  a  pocket 
knife,  does  not  increase  one's  appetite — and  this  morning 
I  gave  in !  I  felt  rather  qualmish,  and  as  soon  as  I  had 
warmed  myself  I  set  out  to  walk  on  towards  our  final  halt 
at  the  Railway  Station. 

"  The  traffic  at  intervals  was  great ;  and  then- again  one 
would  be  alone  for  a  time— nothing  else  in  the  whole  circle 
of  vision  but  some  far-away  flock  of  sheep,  with  the  soli- 
tary herdman  watching  them.  When  flocks  are  not  too 
far  off,  they  form  a  much  prettier  feature  in  the  landscape 
than  with  us  ;  because  they  are  of  many  shades  of  colour — 
black,  several  shades  of  brown,  and  a  few  white  ;  while  a 
goat  and  some  kids  give  further  variety  to  it. 

"  I  carried  a  small  hammer  to  break  pebbles,  etc.,  on 
the  stone  heaps  by  the  roadside ;  for  these  are  brought 


TARTARS  205 

from  the  neighbouring  river  beds,  and  contain  specimens 
of  the  volcanic  rocks  we  have  seen  such  masses  of.  By 
and  by  a  Tartar  rides  up  and  requests  me  to  hand  him 
up  the  stone  I  was  examining.  '  What  is  it  ? '  I  laugh, 
and  tell  him  '  Nitchevo ! '  ('  It's  of  no  use  ! ')  '  Nitchevo  ?  ' 
he  queries,  rather  puzzled.  I  assure  him  it  is,  Nitchevo ! 
What  am  I  myself  ?  Can  I  speak  Russian  ?  'No.'  'lam 
an  Englishman.'  'Inglesam?'  he  repeats  doubtfully — 
and  then  asks  if  it  is  a  Frank.  '  Da  !  Frank  !  '  I  reply  ; 
and  so  we  part  the  best  of  friends  — he  remarking  as 
the  light  dawns  upon  him,  handing  me  back  my  specimen, 
'  Rousky  Kamm  /'  (i.e.  I  was  a  Frank  collecting  Russian 
stones.)  Another  lot  of  Tartars  offer  me  a  ride  in  their 
wagon,  which  I  am  obliged  to  decline  on  the  ground  that 
'  Phytone  pridiyott  ot  Barda,'  (pointing  back  to  the  place.) 
There  is  no  fear  of  being  robbed  just  here,  for  the  police 
are  at  this  moment  scouring  the  district  after  the  band 
whose  exploits  I  have  already  told.  They  came  up  with 
them  a  couple  of  days  ago,  but  did  not  dare  close  with 
them,  for  the  highwaymen  or  banditti  are  a  band  of  eight, 
well  armed  and  prepared  to  fight  to  the  death.  The 
country  people  help  to  conceal  them.  They  are  afraid 
to  do  otherwise.  When  the  banditti  come  to  plunder 
them,  they  send  word  to  the  police,  and  when  the  police 
are  on  the  track,  they  send  word  to  the  banditti— and 
so  endeavour  to  keep  on  good  terms  with  both. 

"  The  stage  was  twenty  versts.  I  had  walked  seven  or 
eight  when  Joseph  Neave  overtook  me,  and  at  ten  versts 
the  carriages  overtook  us.  The  fact  is  that  walking  is  far 
more  pleasant  than  riding,  for  the  bitter  cold  north  wind 
was  blowing  in  our  faces  from  the  Daghestan  Mountains  ; 
and  the  exercise  just  balanced  the  chill.  The  sight  grew 
more  splendid  as  we  drew  nearer  the  range,  and  as  the 
afternoon  sun  changed  the  shadows  and  lights  on  the  cliffs 
and  gorges.  The  base  of  the  hills  we  did  not  see  for  the 
day — the  belt  of  cloud  hiding  it.     As  sunset  drew  near, 


2o6  AT  EVELACH  STATION 

the  colouring  grew  vivid  and  beautiful.  All  the  way  along 
the  eastern  line — about  half  the  distance  that  separated  us 
from  the  Caspian  Sea— the  snow-covered  peaks  stood  out 
in  a  pale  rose  tint.  Right  in  front  of  us,  rising  out  of  a  sea 
of  violet  haze,  came  the  line  of  purple  cliffs  that  margin 
the  river  Koura ;  here  and  there  touched  with  fiery  red. 
Above  these  again  came  volumes  of  cloud,  dark  and  cold ; 
and  then  far  up  into  the  sky  the  great  towers  of  crimson 
and  burning  peaks,  and  red  blazing  chasms  and  precipices, 
and  down  below  them  the  grey  cloud  silently  rising  and 
dimming  the  resplendence,  until  the  fires  rested  only  on 
the  last  solitary  points,  paused,  and  died  away. 

"  It  is  a  cold  chilly  evening  as  we  drive  past  the  cara- 
vanserais with  their  silhouetted  mosquito  towers  to  the 
Evelach  Railway  Station.  We  have  to  ask  permission  of 
the  authorities  to  be  allowed  to  stay  in  the  waiting-room 
all  night,  for  there  is  no  train  westward  till  half-past  eight 
to-morrow  morning.  The  under-stationmaster  at  once 
accords  this ;  and  we  have  the  satisfaction  of  being  in 
a  clean  room,  with  European  comforts,  or  some  of  them, 
around  us.  There  is  a  train  to  Baku  at  ten  at  night; 
several  passengers  drop  in,  and  we  have  a  very  interest- 
ing chat  with  one  of  them,  a  Tartar  formerly  in  the  body- 
guard of  Alexander  II.     He  is  a  thin  intelligent-looking 

> 
man,   shaved  all  but  a  heavy  moustache ;   a  strict  Ma- 
hometan.    I  do  not  know  that  I  ever  gained  more  inform- 
ation from  any  man  in  the  same  brief  interval  than  from 
him. 

"  When  the  Baku  passengers  had  cleared  out,  we 
prepared  for  the  night's  rest.  A  fire  had  been  lighted  in 
the  large  refreshment  room.  Gregoriowitch  wrapped 
himself  in  his  bourka  and  lay  on  a  sofa ;  Joseph  Neave  on 
another ;  Fast  lay  on  the  stone  floor  on  his  bourka — the 
station  cat  curling  herself  up  by  his  side  as  the  warmest 
place.  But  the  fire  went  out  in  the  night,  and  all  suffered 
more  or  less  from  the  cold,  except  puss,  who  still  kept  to 


SUNRISE  207 

the  bourka  on  the  floor.  I  had  a  sofa,  or  rather  a  divan 
in  the  small  first-class  waiting  room— no  fire— but  my 
wolfskin  as  usual  kept  me  as  warm  as  toast,  and  I  had  a 
really  good  night.  At  eight  we  had  coffee  and  good  white 
bread.  Butter  there  was  none  ;  nor  milk.  No  one  at  the 
station  could  keep  a  cow,  I  fancy ;  the  certainty  that  she 
would  be  stolen  is  a  deterrent.  A  few  passengers  come 
in  :  among  them  a  Priestoff  or  superintendent  of  police,  in 
his  grey  uniform.  As  he  opens  the  door,  he  falls  all 
along,  dead  drunk  on  the  floor.  A  faithful  Tartar  servant 
gets  him  up  and  on  to  the  sofa  ;  and  one  of  his  subordinate 
police  gets  his  pass  for  him,  at  the  booking  office. 

"  In  the  little  interval  before  the  train  comes,  I  turn  out 
for  a  walk  on  the  platform.  It  is  a  lovely  morning. 
Away,  far  away  over  the  level  steppe  towards  the  Caspian, 
the  sky  is  gilding  with  the  sunrise  ;  and  a  cliff  or  two  of 
the  great  mountains  on  the  north  catch  the  reflection  ;  but 
the  clouds  hide  the  rest.  Southward  the  mountains  we 
escaped  from  yesterday  are  clear  and  dazzling  in  snow ; 
and  I  take  my  last  farewell  of  the  7,000-feet  volcano  that 
comes  furthest  towards  the  valley. 

"  It  was  a  relief  to  be  once  more  in  the  train,  rolling  on 
and  on  over  the  steppe  instead  of  being  imprisoned  in  the 
Armenian  mountain  gorges  !  At  every  station  the  same 
sights  ;  the  woman  holding  the  flag  at  the  crossing ;  the 
mosquito  tower  just  outside ;  the  long  petroleum  train 
on  the  siding  for  us  to  pass.  On  the  steppe  itself  some- 
times irrigation  and  cultivation,  sometimes  stunted  bar- 
berry bushes,  sometimes  a  flock  with  its  shepherd.  Here 
a  line  of  sand  hills,  like  those  at  Hayle  and  Gwithian — 
till  a  closer  sight  shows  them  to  be  the  volcanic  sandy 
mud,  like  that  of  Gerusi  with  the  cave  dwellings  cut  in 
it ;  and  there  are  cave  dwellings  here,  too,  perched  in 
the  sandstone  cliffs.  Just  outside  one  station,  the  porter's 
abode  is  one  of  those  underground  houses  Strabo  describes ! 
Europe  and  Asia  wrestling  together — the  one  to  force  her 


2o8  ELIZABETHPOL 

innovations  on  her  sister  :  railways  and  new  fangles  of  all 
sorts— the  other  to  hold  what  she  has,  and  means  to  keep  ! 

''  Yonder  on  the  right  is  a  mosque  of  brown  tile  work, 
but  domed  in  most  beautiful  Persian  blue  tiles  that  glisten 
in  the  sun  like  deep  sapphire.  Ten  versts  more  and  we 
are  at  Elizabethpol.  Two  phy -tortes  take  us  and  our 
baggage,  and  we  plunge  at  once  into  a  bed,  a  sea,  of  mud, 
of  the  consistence  of  mortar,  of  the  colour  of  raw  umber, 
and  of  the  depth  of  twelve  inches.  We  take  our  places  in 
a  file  of  phy-tones,  each  dragged  by  two  horses  by  main 
force  through  the  bog.  Plunging,  rocking,  halting,  we 
go  on  through  this  incredible  bog  till  we  cross  a  destroyed 
burial  ground,  the  subsidence  of  the  graves  under  our 
wheels  making  even  this  bad  so  much  worse  that  at  one 
lurch,  Joseph  Neave,  who  never  loses  his  head  as  I  do, 
quietly  remarks,  '  I  hope  we  shall  not  be  upset  here  or  we 
might  be  stifled  before  we  could  get  up.' 

"  For  the  last  verst  the  mud  changes  to  a  thin  fluid  with 
a  surface  like  Windermere,  except  as  to  colour,  which  is 
now  pale  drab.  At  last  we  splash  our  way  across  the 
great  square  round  which  the  plane  trees  stand,  and  the 
bazaar  shops  behind  them.  The  next  two  streets  brought 
us  to  the  hotel,  and  our  coachman,  a  Kazan  Tartar,  thought 
well  to  smack  his  horses  and  finish  up  with  a  fast  trot !  A 
burst  of  indignation  rose  on  all  hands,  which  bewildered 
me,  till  a  loud  shout  from  two  men  in  a  phy-tone  coming 
the  opposite  way  made  me  look  up  instead  of  down  into 
the  sea  below.  Both  men  were  leaning  away  from  us, 
and  covering  their  faces  with  their  hands,  which  were 
heavily  splashed.  I  realised  too  late  that  our  man  had 
made  his  carriage  into  a  powerful  centrifugal  pump,  and 
had  been  throwing  columns  of  mud  into  the  air  from  our 
wheels  and  the  horses'  feet,  which  had  come  down  on  the 
by-passers  and  on  the  goods  in  the  shop  fronts  !  I  wonder 
we  were  not  mobbed  !  It  was  really  a  relief  to  find  oneself 
inside  the  hotel  door,  and  the  matter  allowed  to  drop. 


SEASONS  OF  TRIAL  209 

2  mo.  18. 

"In  the  train  for  Tiflis.  I  sat  up  very  late  last  night 
writing  the  foregoing.  On  glancing  at  it  I  note  that  it 
conveys  the  exact  impressions  of  the  moment;  yet  it 
would  mislead  a  stranger  to  our  movements  if  he  imagined 
they  were  mainly  light  or  amusing.  I  purposely  avoid 
much  mention  of  such  parts  of  our  work  as  involve  mental 
pain  and  exercise  of  spirit.  These  are  neither  few  nor  far 
between.  Such  a  season  was  my  lonely  walk  from  Barda ; 
heaved  up  and  down  on  the  wave,  I  could  well  feel  near 
the  state  of  the  disciples  who  cried,  '  Master,  carest  thou 
not  that  we  perish  ? '  Yet  above  it  all,  and  below  it  all,  is 
the  feeling  that  it  will  yet  be  well ;  and  one  is  held  firmly 
enough  in  the  storms  not  to  cast  away  the  small  measure 
of  confidence  that  is  left  till  the  waves  grow  still  again.  .  . 

"  I  did  not  mention  yesterday  the  beautiful  blue  seas  we 
saw  under  the  Koura  cliffs.  They  set  me  dreaming,  as 
well  they  might,  for  they  were  of  dream  material  them- 
selves—mirage—with the  morning  sun  on  the  vapour." 

To  his  Children. 

In  the  Train  to  Tiflis,  18-2-93. 
*'  It  was  a  delightful  thing  yesterday,  when  we  got  into 
Elizabethpol,  to  have  a  whole  lot  of  letters  and  post-cards 
handed  to  me.  I  picked  out  Mamma's — and  read  that^rs^ 
you  will  say  ?  No,  I  didn't !  I  saved  it  to  the  last,  because 
it  is  always  nice  to  have  the  best  to  finish  up  with.  And 
it  was  nice  !  I  expect  some  more  letters  to-night  when  we 
get  home  to  Tiflis.  It  seems  like  home  after  going  to  the 
places  I  have  told  Mamma  all  about;  for  it  is  like  being 
cut  off  at  sea  from  the  land,  to  feel  that  it  will  take  one 
four  whole  days  and  nights  to  get  to  the  nearest  railway 
station !  You  must  know,  too,  that  there  is  only  one  train 
in  the  day,  here,  each  way.  Some  of  the  stations  are  in 
places  where  there  is  no  water  to  drink,  no  bread  to 
eat,  no  meat  or  fish,  no  shops  to  buy  anything  in.  So 
N 


210  A  TRAVELLING   CHAPEL 

the  Railway  has  a  travelling  shop;  and  when  the  train 
comes  in,  people  have  driven  in  from  the  country  to  meet 
it  and  get  what  they  want.  Then  there  is  a  great  carriage 
like  an  iron  boiler  painted  white  (to  keep  it  cool  on  hot 
days,)  to  bring  water;  and  once  a  month  there  is  a 
travelling  chapel  of  the  Greek  Church  in  the  train.  They 
bring  it  into  a  siding  with  the  engine,  and  leave  it  till  next 
day.  It  is  fitted  up  with  an  altar  and  pictures  of  saints, 
and  great  wax-candles  that  burn  all  day  before  these 
pictures.  All  the  officials  are  expected  to  come  and  take 
the  sacrament  while  the  travelling  priests  are  there  to  give 
it  to  them ;  and  if  there  is  a  marriage,  it  is  timed  to  meet 
the  train-day.  The  bride  and  bridegroom  and  all  their 
attendants  go  into  the  carriage,  and  the  priests  chant  and 
sing  over  them  ;  and  then  they  all  walk  round  the  saloon 
in  procession,  while  two  friends  of  the  bridegroom  go 
behind  the  newly  married  pair,  holding  a  heavy  crown 
above  the  head  of  each.  They  say  it  makes  their  arms 
ache  to  do  it.  I  think  if  I  had  to  do  it,  I  should  ask  if  a 
half  crown  would  not  do  as  well ! 

**  Then  the  next  day  the  chapel  is  hooked  on  to  the  train 
again,  and  goes  to  the  next  station— and  when  all  the 
stations  are  done,  it  goes  back  to  Tiflis.    *     *     * 

"  We  have  just  stopped  to  dine  at  Akstapha.  I  could 
only  get  raw  fish,  bread  and  colBfee,  but  I  have  managed 
to  make  a  meal.  When  I  say  'raw'  I  mean  that  it  is 
smoked — but  not  cooked.  I  must  not  forget  to  tell  you 
that  last  night,  at  our  hotel,  we  asked  for  slivki  (cream)  as 
Joseph  Neave  can  hardly  drink  black  coffee.  They 
brought  us  a  quart  bowl  nearly  full !  When  we  came  to 
use  it,  we  found  it  was  very  nearly  what  we  call  Cornish 
cream ;  and  we  had  part  of  it  again  to-day  for  breakfast. 
This  helps  to  shew,  I  think,  that  the  Cornish  people  had 
their  way  of  making  cream  from  Asia.  The  manners  and 
customs  that  we  are  in  the  habit  of  thinking  Syrian  or 
Jewish  would  be  properly  described  as  Western  Asiatic  ; 


LOCUST  EGGS  211 

for  we  have  seen  very  many  things  here  in  this  old  part 
of  Persia  that  remind  one  of  what  we  read  in  the  Bible. 
Three  days  ago  as  we  drove  along  the  road  from  Shusha, 
we  saw  an  aged  woman,  seemingly  a  widow,  sitting  on 
the  ground^  begging.  A  little  child  stood  by  her.  Joseph 
Neave  reminded  me  of  a  passage,  perhaps  in  Isaiah,  '  She, 
being  desolate,  shall  sit  upon  the  ground.' 

"Locusts  eat  up  the  crops  sometimes,  and  the  Russian 
Government,  to  keep  them  under,  makes  every  house 
collect  3  poods  of  locust  eggs  in  the  spring  (a  pood  is  36 
pounds.)  All  the  women  and  children  then  turn  up  and 
are  very  busy  gathering  these  eggs ;  and  as  they  go  in 
among  the  bushes  to  find  them,  they  often  get  bitten  by 
serpents,  and  sometimes  die.  If  they  cannot  find  three 
poods,  they  have  to  buy  as  many  as  will  make  up  the 
difference ;  and  a  good  trade  is  done  by  Persians  bringing 
them  over  the  border  to  sell !  Of  course  it  comes  to  the 
same  thing ;  for  if  the  eggs  were  allowed  to  hatch  in 
Persia  the  locusts  would  fly  over  to  the  Caucasus  and  do 
the  same  mischief  as  if  they  were  natives." 


CHAPTER  XI. 

VISIT    TO    BASHKETCHET 

ON  THEIR  return  to  Tiflis  from  their  long  and 
fatiguing  journey  to  Shusha  and  Gerusi,  the  two 
travellers  rested  for  a  day  or  two,  and  then  left  with  their 
interpreter  for  Bashketchet,  to  the  south-west,  to  visit 
Prince  Hilkoflf.  The  latter— once  a  wealthy  landed  pro- 
prietor—had divided  his  estate  among  his  tenants ;  and, 
for  his  dissent  from  the  Greek  church,  was  now  living, 
in  banishment,  the  simple  life  of  a  peasant. 

From  John  Bellows  to  his  Wife. 

Ekaterinenfeldt,  20-2-93. 

"  Yesterday,  First-day,  we  rested  all  day ;  aching  in 
every  limb  and  stiff  from  our  heavy  journey  in  the  moun- 
tains. I  felt  rather  poorly  with  it ;  but  a  good  night's  rest 
in  the  beautiful  clean  sheets  and  pillows  we  can  appreciate 
so,  after  Asiatic  rugs,  set  all  right ;  and  this  morning  I 
was  up  at  six,  and  we  breakfasted  and  packed  in  time  to 
be  on  the  road  at  a  quarter  before  eight,  for  Bashketchet, 
the  village  in  which  Prince  H.  is  exiled.  It  is  a  long  way, 
though  but  little  on  the  map :  eighty-five  versts,  much  of 
which  is  over  downs  with  no  road. 

"We  had  a  phaeton  with  four  horses  abreast,  and  a 
good  driver — a  Molokan.  For  the  only  time  since  coming 
to  the  Caucasus  we  had  a  clean  nice-looking  carriage. 
Driving  out  of  the  Eastern  or  Persian  gate,  we  seem  by 
the  map  to  be  wrong,  for  our  destination  is  south-west ; 
but  the  mountains  near  Tiflis  are  so  bad  in  the  direct  line, 
that  we  do  better  to  go  ten  or  twelve  versts  further  round. 


ROUGH   TRAVELLING  213 

and  avoid  them.  The  thing  was  to  get  as  far  on  as  possible 
while  the  ground  was  hard  with  frost ;  for  if  the  sun 
should  be  hot,  part  of  the  way  would  be  so  deep  and  ad- 
hesive that  even  four  horses  could  not  pull  the  carriage 
through,  and  in  such  an  event  we  should  have  to  unharness 
and  leave  the  carriage  in  the  middle  of  the  moors,  and 
each  of  us  mount  one  of  the  horses !  This  often  happens. 

"At  no  great  distance  out,  we  overtook  a  caravan  of 
thirty- one  loaded  camels :  a  very  interesting  sight.  By 
and  by  we  leave  the  Baku  chaussee  and  strike  over  the 
great  barren  plains  and  low  rolling  plateaux  that  separate 
the  last  hills  of  the  Great  Caucasus  fromi^the  first  hills  of 
the  Lesser.  It  is  rough  work.  Fancy  having  to  drive  all 
the  way  from  Cheltenham  to  Weston-super-Mare — more 
than  half  of  it  over  arable  land,  and  part  over  worse  roads 
than  the  most  cut-up  roads  in  an  English  field,  frosen. 
We  have  to  make  fifty  versts  to-day,  staying  the  night  at 
Ekaterinenfeldt,  a  German  *  Colony '  village,  and  finishing 
the  other  thirty-five  versts  to-morrow. 

"  By  and  by  we  sight  another  caravan  in  the  distance  ; 
and  as  we  come  up  with  it  find  twenty-nine  camels  in  a 
long  line,  with  four  swarthy  fellows  as  drivers,  slowly  and 
with  stately  swing,  pacing  the  desert.  For  it  is  a  desert : 
not  of  sand,  but  of  dull  brown  earth,  everywhere  thickly 
bestrewn  with  stones.  It  looked  as  if  nothing  green  grew 
on  it,  but  there  must  be  some  slight  herbage,  as  we  pass 
several  flocks  of  sheep.  In  the  midst  of  one  of  them,  I  get 
our  driver  to  pull  up  and  ask  the  two  Tartar  shepherds  a 
few  questions :  ending  with  a  request  for  a  specimen  of 
the  'Asiatiske'  sheep's  wool,  of  both  white  and  black 
colours.  Fifteen  kopeks  donation  for  same  gratifies  the 
Tartars. 

"  Slipping,  bumping  over  the  frozen  ruts,  plunging  into 
a  pit  or  mounting  a  bank,  we  go  trotting  on  at  I  dare  say 
five  miles  an  hour  notwithstanding.  At  one  rather  deeper 
ditch  than  usual  we  drove  a  few  yards  to  and  fro  on  the 


214 


GEORGIAN  PRINCES 


nearer  bank  before  our  cocher  would  risk  the  dip  that 
might  break  his  springs  ;   at  last  finding  the  least  for- 
bidding spot,  we  pass  it  in  safety.     At  twelve  o'clock 
^^-x  we  have  reached  the 

ssC C-^  "- "  Tartar  village  of  Sar- 

van.  The  first  house 
we  come  to  on  cross- 
ing a  timber  bridge 
over  a  stream,  is  a 
Duchan  or  inn.  The 
weather  is  cold,  but  not  bitterly  so  ;  and  we  prefer  sitting 
outside  under  the  'Balkon'  to  going  into  the  gloomy 
interior. 

*'  Our  horses  are  scarcely  out  of  harness,  and  our 
provisions  unpacked,  when  another  team  of  four  in  a 
phaeton  drives  up,  and  two  gentlemen  in  uniform  descend 
and  take  their  seats  at  a  table  on  our  left.  They  are  very 
pleasant-mannered,  and  are  perfectly  ready  to  chat  with 
us,  giving  us  any  details  we  ask  for,  and  so  on.  We  offer 
them  tea  or  some  of  our  cold  eggs  ;  they  politely  decline, 
but  press  us  to  take  some  of  their  shisslik  (roasted  mutton 
done  on  skewers  over  charcoal.)  One  is  a  very  handsome 
man  of  thirty,  and  what  is  very  unusual  here,  he  is  blond 
and  with  very  light  hair.  His  companion  looks  much 
older ;  I  guessed  him  sixty — but  he  told  Fast  he  was 
thirty-six  years  old  only  :  adding  '  It  is  very  usual  for  us 
here  in  the  Caucasus  to  turn  grey  early.'  We  found  they 
were  two  Georgian  princes. 

"  We  had  twenty  versts  yet  to  do.  In  the  course  of  it 
we  passed  a  large  deserted  Persian  fort  on  the  bank  of  the 
river  Chram,  and  on  the  further  bank  a  considerable 
Tartar  village.  A  good  many  children  were  on  the  flat 
house-tops  to  see  us  drive  past.  I  should  mention  that  we 
had  now  come  on  to  the  post-road  to  Alexandropol,  and, 
though  very  rough,  it  was  a  decided  step  in  advance  of 
the  moorland.     By  six  o'clock  we  drew  towards  [this] 


EKATERINENFELDT  — MOLOKANI  215 

flourishing  German  colony  :  marked  for  several  versts 
before  its  approach  by  well-fenced  vineyards,  and  the 
never-failing  Lombardy  poplars  brought  here  by  the  good 
Swabians  and  Wurtemburgers,  who  were  the  original 
founders  of  Ekaterinenfeldt. 

*'  It  is  the  most  prosperous-looking  village  we  have  yet 
seen  in  the  Transcaucasus  ;  we  might  say  in  all  Russia. 
Excellently  built  houses  in  the  German  style,  modified  as 
it  is  here  by  the  Asiatic  verandah  and  balcony,  show  their 
gables  to  the  street ;  many  of  them  coloured,  or  rather 
colour-washed,  in  tasteful  fashion.  We  go  on  almost  to 
the  end  of  the  village,  where  it  descends  a  gentle  slope, 
and  drive  into  the  yard  of  the  village  hotel.  We  are  taken 
to  a  clean  little  room  on  the  right  of  the  door,  a  fire  put  in 
the  stove,  good  coffee,  etc.,  etc.— not  forgetting  fried 
potatoes  for  the  chronicler  of  these  events,  who  is  now 
going  to  bed,  as  his  friends  are  already  in  theirs. 

22-2-93 

"  Rising  early  we  were  again  on  our  way  betimes.  A 
fairly  level  but  rough  road  lasted  till  a  little  beyond  our 
first  halt,  about  ten  or  half-past.  It  was  a  Duchan :  a 
house  half  underground,  half  an  inn  and  half  a  shop.  A 
blacksmith  has  his  forge  for  shoeing  close  at  hand  ;  but  as 
the  owner  of  the  Duchan  facetiously  remarks,  he  has  more 
shoes  than  horses  to  put  them  on.  After  baiting  our  team, 
and  samovaring  ourselves,  we  go  forward,  passing  a  new 
colony  of  Molokani.  A  number  of  log  houses  are  being 
built  in  all  directions  :  several  tiny  ones,  of  one  room,  are 
already  finished.  These  are  the  vapour  baths  a  la  russe : 
to  every  Molokan  a  sine  qiid  non.  There  are  twenty-five 
families  in  the  colony,  and  they  have  taken  1500  desiatines 
of  fertile  land  on  a  kind  of  plateau,  but  with  a  bordering 
of  forested  hills  on  the  two  sides.  They  have  a  lease 
of  thirty  years,  and  pay  i  rouble  80  per  desiatine  per  year. 
Last  autumn  was  their  first  crop  of  melons,  which  would 
have  paid  well,  sold  in  Tiflis,  about  seventy  versts  off,  but 


2l6 


AT  BASHKETCHET 


for  the  cholera  regulations  making  it  illegal  to  offer  them. 
They  have  sown  a  large  breadth  of  wheat,  etc.  Timber 
for  the  buildings  they  have  free  ;  and,  for  firewood,  some 
hills  covered  with  trees  behind  their  allotments  they  also 
have  free.  They  will  become  prosperous,  if  they  are  not 
interfered  with  on  the  ground  of  their  religion. 

"  The  road  goes  on  rising  for  miles,  the  last  part  over 
high  table-land  covered  with  snow  ;  and  at  last,  in  the 
afternoon,  in  a  dip  of  this  plateau,  we  see  two  villages  near 
each  other :  one,  flat-roofed  and  half-burrowing,  the  other 
very  German-looking.  The  latter  is  Bashketchet,  our 
destination.  The  snow  is  deep.  We  are  over  four  thou- 
sand feet  above  the  sea,  and  there  is  one  height  in  sight, 
over  ten  thousand. 

"  Ivan,  to  whom  has  referred  us  to  lodge,  is 

quite  willing  to  do  so ;  but  as  his  space  available  is  very 
small,  he  ends  by  taking  us  to  another  peasant's,  where 
we  have  a  room  i8'  by  20',  and  are  well  accommodated. 


The  door  is  on  the  right.  A  similar  but  poorer  room  is 
opposite ;  and  the  latter  was  for  a  month  the  lodging  of 
Prince  H.,  we  found.    The  good  people  of  the  village,  this 


PRINCE  HILKOFF 


217 


house  included,  are  Duchabortsi,  of  whom  there  is  a  total 
colony  here  of  eight  villages.  The  peasant's  wife  gets  us 
a  good  supper— eggs,  milk,  boiled  potatoes,  and  home- 
made brown  wheaten  bread.  Her  dress  is  a  red  plaid 
cotton,  with  head-gear  somewhat  like  a  helmet  of  red  and 
blue,  tipped  with  bright  ends  of  ribbon  in  front.  This  is 
the  general  head-dress  of  women  of  this  sect. 

"  Next  door  is  a  smaller  cottage  (like  this  below,)  in  the 
left-hand  room  of  which  Prince  H.  lives,  with  his  wife  and 


two  little  children.  We  send  him  word  of  our  arrival.  In 
a  short  time  he  comes  in :  a  man  of  say  five-and-thirty, 
dressed  in  a  dark  brown  tunic  of  coarse   woollen.     In 

profile  he  reminds  me  of ,  very  fair,  with  wavy 

light-brown  hair  and  beard,  blue  eyes,  and  a  most  sweet 
dignified  look.  He  wears  a  pince-nez,  and  is  very  gentle- 
manly in  bearing  ;  indeed  it  would  be  impossible  to  take 
him  for  a  peasant,  though  he  identifies  himself  with  the 
peasants  in  every  way  he  can.  At  the  moment  of  our 
arrival  he  was  carrying  a  burden  of  firewood.  One  would 
take  him  for  a  country  doctor ;  and  in  fact  he  is  exceed- 
ingly useful  to  his  neighbours  for  some  distance  round  in 
this  capacity. 

"  He  asked  if  I  could  come  and  look  at  an  old  peasant 
in  the  village,  who  was  ill.  I  ought  to  say  that  he  had 
enquired  if  I  knew  anything  about  sick  management ;  and 
it  was  my  affirmative  reply  that  led  to  this  second  question. 
We  went  to  a  tidy  log  house,  where  a  tall  strong  man  of 
sixty-five  lay  in  bed,  in  a  good  deal  of  fever.     I  got  a 


2i8  NURSING  AN  OLD  PEASANT 

large  tub  of  hot  water  and  well  bathed  the  old  farmer's 
feet ;  and  a  hot  blanket  to  wrap  them  in  ;  and  got  the  men 
who  were  with  him  to  rub  him.  In  the  morning  his  tem- 
perature was  down.  They  were  very  grateful  to  the 
anglisky  Feldsher^  as  I  dubbed  myself  in  fun  ;  and  sent  a 
message  that  they  hoped  the  Lord  would  bless  me  and 
bring  me  to  my  family  again  in  good  health,  and  to  find 
them  so.  (A  Feldsher  is  a  rough  and  ready  doctor  who 
has  passed  no  examination ;  a  man  who  generally  gives 
medicine  rather  with  the  hope  of  finding  out  what  is  the 
matter,  than  with  any  distinct  idea  of  its  curing !) 

"  The  great  fierce  dogs  to  be  passed  in  going  from  one 
house  to  another,  are  a  serious  danger ;  for  they  bite, 
Prince  H.  said,  as  well  as  bark.  He  put  a  stick  into  my 
hand  (notwithstanding  his  non-resistant  principles,  which 
he  carries  further  than  Friends  do)  and  a  piece  of  bread  in 
the  other.  The  dogs  in  all  cases  prefer  the  bread.  One 
old  fellow  who  lay  in  the  porch  of  our  lodging  needed 
a  great  deal  of  admonition  from  our  friends  to  keep  him 
from  flying  at  us  ;  and  after  he  had  been  threatened,  and 
tapped  on  with  a  stick,  and  ordered  to  *  Posho/.^  Posho//', 
he  groaned  and  growled  like  a  demon.  I  never  heard  a 
dog  make  such  sounds — and  hope  I  never  shall  again  ! 

"  As  soon  as  we  had  done  with  the  old  farmer  we  went 
to  Prince  H.'s  cottage.  He  lives,  with  his  wife  and  two 
children — a  boy  of  four  and  a  girl  of  two-and-a-half— in  the 
left-hand  room  in  my  sketch.  It  is  about  twelve  feet 
square,  with  an  earthen  floor.  A  large  oven  fills  one 
corner,  similar  to  the  one  in  our  lodging.  One  wooden 
and  one  iron  bedstead,  and  a  table,  with  a  chair  or  two, 
make  all  the  furniture.  Two  shelves  on  the  wall  hold 
books  and  bottles  of  medicine.  A  very  tiny  scullery  opens 
from  it,  in  which  a  paraffin  stove  and  other  necessary 
utensils  stand. 

"Princess  H.  is  a  pleasant-looking  woman  of  thirty  to 
thirty-six  years  — oval  face,  very  black  hair  and  eyes. 


EPISODE  OF  THE  SIEGE  OF  KARS         219 

The  little  boy — a  sweet  little  fellow  who  was  four  years 
old  on  the  day  of  our  arrival— has  an  air  distingzi^  in  spite 
of  his  father's  endeavour  to  live  the  life  of  a  peasant. 

"  We  had  a  long  and  exceedingly  interesting  conversa- 
tion. Prince  H.  gave  us  the  history  of  his  charge  upon 
the  Turks  in  the  siege  of  Kars,  the  General  of  the  Russian 
forces  (an  Abkhasian  by  the  way)  sending  him  with  only 
fifty  men  to  surprise  an  enormously  larger  force  of  Turks 
in  their  sleep.  A  Tartar  brigand  who  was  serving  under 
him  recoiled  at  the  idea  of  killing  men  in  their  sleep  ;  and 
Prince  H.,  too,  felt  pity  for  them,  and  refrained.  In  a  few 
moments  the  Turks  were  prisoners,  without  bloodshed, 
when  one  of  them  lifted  his  rifle,  with  the  muzzle  at 
Prince  H.'s  breast,  and  was  going  to  fire.  Prince  H. 
leaned  over  (he  was  on  horseback)  and  fired  down  on  the 
man's  head,  killing  him  instantly ;  but  the  fact  haunted 
him,  and  he  determined  to  kill  no  more.  The  officer  to 
whom  he  first  spoke  of  this  advised  him  not  to  resign 
until  he  was  sure  that  his  motive  was  not  fear,  and  sug- 
gested his  going  into  battle  and  not  defending  himself,  as 
a  test.  He  did.  Twice  he  half  drew  his  sword  in  the 
heat  of  the  excitement — but  sent  it  back  into  its  sheath 
again.  Once  a  Turk  put  the  muzzle  of  his  rifle  to  the  nape 
of  his  neck,  but  it  slipped,  and  as  he  pulled  the  trigger, 
the  ball  went  just  past  his  ear,  the  explosion  deafening  him 
so  that  for  three  days  he  heard  nothing  whatever.  He 
came  out  of  the  action  with  another  hair-breadth  escape  ; 
and  then  he  resigned.  It  happened  that  he  was  not 
ordered  to  serve  in  this  siege  of  Kars,  but  had  volunteered, 
and  this  left  it  possible  for  him  to  withdraw  without  a 
court-martial.  He  is  exfled,  not  for  this,  but  for  speaking 
to  people  about  religion. 

"As  a  nobleman,  the  Government  would  even  now 
release  him  if  he  asked  to  go  abroad ;  but  he  feels  that  he 
is  more  useful  here  at  Bashketchet,  among  the  peasantiy. 
AU  the  people  look  up  to  him  almost  as  an  angel.     They 


220  RETURN   TO   TIFLIS 

bring  him  bread,  and  potatoes,  and  flour,  and  fruit,  and 
everything  they  have,  as  much  as  he  needs  ;  and  he  talks 
to  them  in  a  way  to  open  their  eyes  to  many  things,  and 
he  tends  them  in  their  sickness.  I  must  tell  you  about  his 
visit  to  a  sick  Tartar  when  I  get  back.     ^    *    * 

"When  we  came  to  settle  in.  for  the  night,  Prince  H. 
was  anxious  to  ensure  our  being  warm ;  and  in  spite  of 
our  protestations  that  we  had  wood  enough,  he  went  and 
brought  us  a  double  armful  to  keep  the  stove  going  all 
night.  J.  J.  N.  and  Fast  offered  me  the  bed :  they  to 
sleep  on  the  benches.  I  declined,  and  insisted  on  lying  on 
the  floor  by  the  stove,  which  I  did,  in  my  old  friend  the 
wolf-skin,  and  was  very  comfortable  except  when  the  old 
Adam  put  Isidor  ^  into  my  mind  and  his  diabolical  delight 
in  cruelty. 

"In  the  morning  the  good  woman  of  the  house  baked 
us  some  fresh  hot  cakes  for  breakfast,  and  Prince  H. 
brought  us  a  beautiful  jug  of  milk.  The  meal  well  over, 
we  started  to  walk  (J.  J.  N.,  Prince  H.  and  I)  in  advance 
of  the  horses,  over  the  deep  snow.  It  w^s  a  walk  I  shall 
never  forget ;  and  it  was  hard  to  part  when  the  moment 
came  that  we  must  do  so.  I  felt  very  closely  united  with 
him  in  spirit.  Riding  behind  our  carriage  was  a  young  man 
with  a  spare  horse  besides  his  own.  This  was  sent  by  the 
villagers  for  Prince  H.,  as  they  had  seen  him  start  to  walk 
with  us,  and  they  wished  to  spare  him  the  walk  back." 

*  A  certain  Greek  priest,  who  had  threatened  Prince  H.  with 
further  punishment. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

KUTAIS—POTI— FAREWELL  TO  TIFLIS— FLOWERS-ON  THE  BLACK 
SEA— SEVASTOPOL— LITTLE  RUSSIA— ST.  PETERSBURG  AGAIN— 
AT  COUNT  TOLSTOI'S— RETURN  TO  ENGLAND. 

ON  THEIR  return  from  Bashketchet  to  Tiflis,  the 
work  of  the  two  Friends  in  the  Trans- Caucasus  was 
ended,  except  for  an  interview  in  the  city,  and  a  journey 
to  Kutais.  The  former  having  to  be  postponed  through 
the  illness  of  the  person  they  wished  to  see,  they  pro- 
ceeded at  once  to  Kutais  and  made  their  call ;  and  then 
went  on  to  visit  their  old  friend  Wilson  Sturge,  the  British 
Vice-Consul  at  Poti. 

From.  John  Bellows  to  his  Wife. 

KuTAis,  25-2-1893. 
*'We  left  Tiflis  last  night  about  seven  o'clock  in  the 
ni-kouriastchi  (Nichtraucher)  carriage.  As  the  only  non- 
smoking one  is  for  ladies,  we  could  stay  but  by  sufferance. 
A  lady  came,  with  her  little  girl  about  Lucy's  age,  and 
took  the  two  spare  seats  next  ours  ;  but  though  a  lady,  she 
was  anything  but  'ni-kouriastchi,'  for  she  took  out  a 
cigarette,  lighted  it,  and  made  a  cloud  over  our  prospects. 
Her  husband,  an  army  officer,  came  to  see  her  off,  but 
did  not  accompany  her.  By  and  by  we  settled  in  on  the 
shelves;  the  little  girl  sleeping  on  the  seat  opposite  me 
rolled  off  on  to  the  ground,  but  did  not  really  wake  up 
with  the  blow.  Meantime  her  mother  lighted  one  cigarette 
after  another,  to  '  keep  out  the  cold,'  though  I  perceived 
no  cold  to  keep  out — for  the  weather  is  quite  mild  at  this 
moment. 


222  KUTAiS 

"  At  four  in  the  morning  we  left  the  train  at  Rion,  where 
a  branch  line  of  eight  versts  takes  passengers  to  Kutai's. 
Arrived  at  the  town  we  slept  in  our  chairs  till  seven,  and 
then  came  to  the  H6tel  de  France,  where  I  write  this. 

"The  city  is  exceedingly  picturesque  in  situation,  as  the 
river  Rion,  on  which  it  stands,  winds  between  cliffs  and 
mountains,  reminding  one  of  the  Saar.  Pomegranate 
trees  grow  everywhere,  and  I  saw  figs  already  formed 
larger  than  hazel  nuts.  The  blackberry-bramble  is  bud- 
ding, and  violets  are  in  bloom.  We  have  had  a  walk  up 
the  hillside  to  a  fort  held  by  the  Turks  about  1815  against 
the  Russians,  who  destroyed  it. 

"The  Rion  is  an  exceedingly  rapid  torrent:  muddy  at 
this  season,  and  liable  to  heavy  floods.  The  mud  from 
one  part  of  it  is  a  natural  cement  of  great  hardness,  used 
constantly  as  mortar.  Evergreen  trees,  such  as  cypresses, 
grow  very  tall  here,  and  make  a  feature,  with  ivy  on  the 
walls  and  cliffs,  of  much  beauty  in  the  greenness  they  give 
among  these  dark  mountains.  The  average  temperature 
is  the  same  as  that  of  Naples.  In  the  bazaar  I  begged  a 
piece  of  Georgian  wool — and  bought  two  little  fleeces — 
though,  singularly  enough,  I  had  wo^  Jason's  being  here  for 
his  golden  fleece  in  my  mind  as  I  did  so!  {These  are 
lambskins.) 

"  We  have  now  finished  all  the  visits  we  needed  in  the 
Caucasus,  except  the  final  one  at  Tiflis,  which  we  hope  to 
make  on  Third-day.  We  are  both  tired — but  isoell;  and 
the  rest  to-morrow  at  Wilson  Sturge's  will  be  doubly 
welcome  after  the  '  roughing  it'  of  the  past  three  weeks.' 

To  his  Wife. 

POTI,    27-2-93. 

'*  Poti  is  a  town  of  only  4000  inhabitants  ;  but  the  houses 
are  all  bungalows,  widely  set  apart  from  one  another  to 
lessen  the  risk  of  fire,  as  they  are  built  of  wood. 

"  Crossing  the  Phasis — the  Rion — by  a  long,  low  bridge, 
English-built,  and  driving  along  a  broad  road,  with  trees 


POTI  223 

and  bungalows  on  either  hand,  we  arrive  at  Wilson 
Sturge's  villa.  The  blazing  fire,  the  cocoa  and  cake  and 
bread  and  Trebizond  butter,  the  chat  till  midnight,  the 
clean  comfortable  beds,  the  sleep  with  compound  interest 
to  repay  those  borrowed  hours  of  dozing  in  trains  and 
railway  stations — all  these  things  I  can  outline,  and  thou 
canst  fill  in  and  shade  off  for  thyself!  Those  days  at 
Udzharri  in  the  steppe,  and  these  two  by  the  Black  Sea, 
at  Poti,  will  always  remain  in  my  recollection  as  green 
spots  in  our  pilgrimage  in  Russia  and  Asia. 

"  After  breakfast  we  sat  down  to  our  little  meeting,  to 
feel  some  new  evidence  of  that  mercy  which  is  new  every 
morning ;  and  to  sit  as  under  the  shadow  of  a  Great  Rock 
in  a  weary  land.  It  was  a  sweet  and  refreshing  time. 
All  of  us  parted  from  home,  and  from  all  that  is  dear  to  us 
on  earth ;  all  helpless  and  needing  the  renewal  of  our 
strength — and,  I  feel  sure,  all  finding  it.  Wilson  Sturge 
is  greatly  pleased  to  have  our  visit,  for  his  position  here  is 
a  singularly  lonely  one. 

"  After  this  we  went  into  the  garden.  Tall  magnolias, 
cypresses,  retinosporas  and  lemon  trees  make  it  different 
from  an  English  one  :  but  very  pleasant  after  the  vast 
monotony  of  barren  mountains  we  have  been  journeying 
amidst. 

''  In  the  afternoon,  Wilson  Sturge  took  us  a  walk  to  get 
our  first  sight  of  the  Black  Sea.  It  is  about  two  miles 
from  his  house.  Very  wide  roads,  gravelled  from  the 
strand  of  the  Rion,  at  some  distance  out  end  the  villas  and 
cottages,  and  we  enter  an  open  glade  in  a  wood  of  not 
very  large  trees,  tangled  and  bound  together  in  all 
directions  by  climbing  rose-bushes :  at  night  the  shelter 
of  vast  numbers  of  nightingales.  Violets  and  cyclamens 
grow  among  the  bushes  below  ;  and  we  pick  some  which 
I  hope  may  reach  thee  safely,  though  faded. 

"  At  last  the  wood  ends.  We  can  only  see  great  green 
banks  in  front— sand-banks :    but  they  are  artificial,  the 


224  THE  BLACK  SEA 

remains  of  a  Russian  fort  used  in  the  Turkish  war.  Mount- 
ing the  bank  we  have  the  sea  almost  at  our  feet— wide 
and  blue  and  beautiful.  The  mountains  of  Armenia  fill  up 
all  the  landscape  on  our  left ;  and  very  far  off  on  our  right 
are  the  towering  Alps  of  the  Northern  Caucasus.  Filling 
in  the  great  semicircle  that  is  formed  by  all  these 
mountains,  or  rather  two  sides  of  the  semicircle — for  the 
plain  of  the  Rion  is  flat  for  many  miles — is  the  sea: 
smooth  and  beautifully  blue — blue  as  sapphire — with  the 
gilding  of  the  evening  sun  on  its  farther  line :  this  is  the 
'  Black  Sea:  " 

On  leaving  Poti,  John  Bellows  and  his  friend  returned 
to  Tiflis  for  the  interview  already  alluded  to,  and  then  left 
for  St.  Petersburg  by  way  of  Batoum  and  the  Black  Sea. 

To  his  Wife. 

Train,  Tiflis  to  Batoum,  1-3-93. 

"  Leaving  Tiflis  closes  a  distinct  chapter  in  our  journey ; 
and  in  doing  so,  I  can  truly  acknowledge  that  I  have  been 
many  times  in  course  of  it  impressed  with  the  goodness 
of  the  Almighty,  who,  as  thou  hast  so  well  put  it,  is  Lord 
both  of  time  and  space,  in  so  ordering  it  that  neither  the 
time  nor  the  distance  which  separate  us  has  been  per- 
mitted to  press  upon  my  spirits  to  anything  like  its  full 
natural  degree. 

"  As  I  look  up  from  the  window,  I  see  we  are  running 
along  the  bank  of  a  swift  river,  a  feeder  of  the  Rion  ;  for 
our  watershed  has  changed  since  passing  the  tunnel,  and 
this  stream  runs  to  the  Black  Sea.  The  flora  too  has 
visibly  changed.  We  begin  to  see  ivy  on  the  cliffs,  and 
bushes  of  box  and  holly  and  yew,  as  well  as  the  '  Colchic ' 
laurel.  Little  tufts  of  cyclamen  appear  on  the  edge  of  the 
woods,  and  in  one  or  two  spots,  considerable  masses.  I 
note  now  and  then  some  primulas,  pink,  with  a  light  centre : 
and,  I  think,  a  few  primroses.  Hellebore  makes  a  good 
show.  A  bright  blue  flower  I  take  to  be  squills,  in  the 
woods ;    but  there   is  no  opportunity  of  verifying  it  by 


FLOWERS  225 

getting  close.  Blackberry  brambles  are  abundant,  with 
last  year's  leaves  half  unshed ;  but  the  barberry,  that  grows 
all  over  the  Caucasus  east  of  the  Suram  and  especially 
east  of  Tiflis,  is  wanting.  One  thing  that  tends  to  this 
change  in  the  growth  of  plants,  or  rather  in  the  plants,  is 
the  much  greater  abundance  of  water.  Here  it  is  like  the 
Lake  District.  The  loveliest  cascades  come  down  the 
gorges:  one,  over  a  flight  of  very  regular  ledges  like 
stairs :  another,  in  five  silver  streams  down  the  face  of  a 
perpendicular  cliff,  like  the  strings  of  a  harp  :  and  the 
music,  in  a  pause  of  the  train,  beautiful. 

**  For  a  long  distance  the  valley  was  as  narrow  as  that  of 
the  Wye  below  Lydbrook ;  but  the  hills  are  higher,  and  not 
so  thickly  wooded.  The  train  winds  in  and  out  between 
the  mountains,  opening  a  fresh  picture  at  every  bend.  By 
degrees,  however,  the  valley  widens  till  we  are  on  a 
plain  many  miles  broad.  After  a  beautiful  sunset  we  have 
the  moonlight  on  it ;  and  I  feel  that  so  far  as  description 
of  the  landscape  is  concerned,  in  the  Caucasus,  my  day's 
work  is  done. 

"  I  fully  appreciate  thy  remark  on  the  need  of  inward 
trial  to  keep  the  heart  humble  and  therefore  nearer  to  God. 
So  far  as  this  errand  goes,  on  which  we  are  now  sent,  I 
cannot  say  that  it  has  ever  struck  me  that  it  was  an  honour 
put  on  us,  other  than  in  the  general  sense  that  all  true 
Divine  service  is  honourable.  If  the  issue  depended  on 
our  skill  or  diplomacy,  there  might  spring  up  such  a 
thought;  but  it  does  not.  Indeed  the  instrumentality 
seems  so  far  removed  from  anything  really  effective,  that 
I  am  daily  more  or  less  beset  with  doubts  as  to  its  out- 
come ;  but  I  feel  it  is  not  right  to  let  this  idea  have  much 
sway.  It  is  enough  to  do  what  we  are  clearly  called  to 
do,  and  leave  the  result.  Things  do  not  turn  out  as  we 
forecast,  either  for  success  or  failure ;  unless  we  have  a 
true  sense  given  us  of  the  result,  which  is,  I  think,  but 
seldom.  *  *  * 
o 


226  VEGETARIANISM 

"As  to  my  interest  in  science  during  the  journey,  I 
get  along  excellently  with  my  companions  ;  for  although 
they  have  not  the  same  tastes,  I  am  often  able  to  interest 
them  with  some  details.  They  are  exceedingly  nice  and 
very  unselfish  :  always  trying  to  give  me  the  most 
comfortable  place,  etc.  As  to  food,  we  have  got  on  all 
the  better  in  the  last  few  days  for  the  fast  of  the  Greek 
Church  ;  for  this  leads  to  the  Hotels  and  Restaurants 
having  a  sort  of  double  menu  :  vegetarian  for  the  '  ortho- 
dox.' I  conclude  to  discontinue  fish :  for  I  could  not  kill 
them  myself ;  and  if  I  cannot  kill,  I  will  not  let  others 
kill  for  me.  That  the  most  robust  health  and  strength 
can  be  maintained  without  eating  flesh  is  shown  by  the 
porters  of  Tiflis,  who  are  practically  vegetarians." 

To  his  Wife. 

Black  Sea,  2-3-93. 

"It  feels  a  distinct  gain  to  be  actually  on  the  water 

sailing  north  for  home  !    I  am  reminded  of  the  Viking  in 

Frithiofs  Saga,  who,   after  roving  not  far  from  here, 

among  the  Greek  Islands,  says — 

'  In  the  North  is  the  land  that's  beloved. 
I  will  follow  the  flight  of  the  heavenly  winds — 
I  will  steer  yet  again  for  the  North  ! ' 

"  We  went  on  board  our  vessel  in  good  time,  and  for 

nearly  an  hour  watched  the  interesting  spectacle  of  the 

final  loading,    and   the    coming    on    board    of  the    last 

passengers.     They  are   of  many  nationalities — turbaned 

Turks,    fezzed    Turks,    Greeks,    Armenians,    Persians, 

Georgians,  Russians  :    a  very  picturesque  assemblage  in 

every  way.     Among  them  two  Turkish  women,  veiled  in 

a  small-pattern  check  or  plaid  silk;  though  we  are  told 

they  often  put  aside  their  veils  on  board  ship  when  no 

Turks  are  present.     These  are  nearly  all  second-class  and 

steerage  passengers ;   for  we  find  the  saloon  passengers 

are  only^z;^  in  a//— two  ladies,  and  three  gentlemen.     Of 

the  latter,  one  is  from  Petersburg,  one  from  Sydney,  and 


FELLOW-  PASSENGERS  227 

one  from  Gloucester  :  the  Petersburg  one  being  the 
interpreter  to  the  two  Englishmen !  The  saloon  is  four 
times  as  large  as  our  drawing-room.  There  are  six  tables 
in  it,  and  the  steward  is  laying  covers  for  five  on  one  of 
them.  Away  in  the  farthest  corner,  in  an  easy  chair,  is  a 
lady,  with  a  book.     Where  the  other  is  I  do  not  know. 

"  There  was  a  drizzling  rain  as  we  steamed  out  of 
Batoum— but  already,  since  I  have  written  as  far  as  this 
line,  we  have  passed  beyond  it  into  a  serene  atmosphere, 
clear  and  quiet  as  the  sea  below  us  ;  and  this  is  so  smooth 
that  no  movement  whatever  is  perceptible  in  the  ship  but 
the  tremor  of  the  engines.  It  is  the  very  perfection  of 
travel.  The  *  Alexie '  is  an  English-built  vessel,  perfectly 
new — most  beautifully  fitted— and  of  about  2000  tons 
burden.  We  pay  30  roubles  each  for  our  passage,  which 
lasts  three  days— including  the  meals,  which  we  are  told 
are  as  good  as  on  board  a  Cunarder. 

*'  How  different  most  things  on  our  journey  have  turned 
out  from  my  expectation  !  I  had  thought  it  not  unlikely 
that  this  passage  would  be  rough.  It  didn't  in  the  least 
trouble  me  ;  for  I  supposed  the  physical  pain  involved 
might  be  needful,  and  therefore  useful.  For  all  physical 
pain  is  also  mental.  Still,  we  are  not  to  choose  for  our- 
selves in  such  matters. 

"  At  dinner  the  Captain,  a  handsome  grey-haired  officer, 

took  his  seat  at  the  head  of  our  little  table,  and  one,  only, 

of  the  two  ladies  graced  it  with  her  presence.     She  might 

be  an  Englishwoman,   or  a  German  ;    tall,   light  com- 

plexioned,  sad  looking,  but  she  never  spoke   a  word. 

The  other  lady  beckoned  the  steward  to  bring  her  an 

orange,  and  dined  on  that ;  and  then  both  disappeared  to 

the  cabin.     Ours  is  on  the  floor  below,  where  we  are 

'  monarchs  of  all  we  survey.' 

3  mo.  4.    8  a.m. 

"  We  are  lying  off  the  entrance  to  the  Sea  of  Azof,  with 
a  little  steamer  taking  goods  for  Kertch  from  ours.     There 
02 


228  NOVOROSSISK 

is  a  fog :  so  that  nothing  is  visible.  We  put  in  yesterday 
at  Novorossisk  for  five  hours,  while  an  immense  quantity 
of  goods  was  landed  and  more  put  on  board.  All  the 
passengers  went  ashore— but  the  town  is  a  wretched  one, 
not  worth  going  to  see:  the  streets,  over  ankle-deep  in 
mud,  cannot  be  crossed  except  in  certain  parts,  where  a 
little  rise  (as  to  ascend  a  bridge  for  instance)  has  allowed 
the  mud  to  harden  a  little.  Here  a  repetition  of  footprints 
in  the  same  spots  has  left  a  little  line  of  pits,  down  into 
which  one  has  to  step,  balancing  one's-self :  penalty  for 
slipping,  whole  suit  of  clothes  spoilt. 

"  I  was  glad  to  get  out  of  this,  and  away  from  the 
stepping-stones  which  cross  one  large  open  space,  down 
to  the  beach,  where  I  strolled  along  for  an  hour  close  to 
the  edge  of  the  water.  There  is  no  tide ;  but  the  wavelet 
keeps  lapping  to  and  fro  over  a  space  of  about  two  feet, 
on  the  sand  and  shingle.  I  hunted  in  the  shingle  for  little 
shells  for  Jack  and  Dorothy.  There  is  not  much  seaweed ; 
and  the  pebbles  give  scarcely  any  variety,  being  nearly 
all,  as  at  Batoum,  of  dark  blue  limestone. 

"Novorossisk  is  a  place  of  perhaps  15,000  or  20,000 
inhabitants,  with  a  considerable  industry  in  cement- 
making.  The  stone  (of  which  I  have  a  specimen)  is 
exploited  by  a  French  company,  who  have  built  large 
works  here.  It  is  brought  in  wagons  from  a  score  of 
versts  off,  in  the  hills.  The  place  is  also  a  landing  port 
for  masout — the  waste  tarry  material  from  the  paraffin 
manufacture  at  Baku.  It  is  stored  in  large  tanks,  from 
which  it  is  conveyed  to  the  Russian  railway  stations  for 
fuel  for  the  locomotives. 

"  I  cannot  get  much  information  from  the  folk  on  board, 
from  the  bar  of  language— but  one  passenger  who  has 
joined  us  since  starting,  speaks  French,  and  is  intelligent. 
He  is  a  native  of  Sukhum  Khale— the  Dioscurias  of 
Strabo — and  has  given  me  some  really  interesting  details 
of  the  place.     He  is  a  great  admirer  of  Gladstone  as  a 


A  STUDENT  OF  ENGLISH  229 

statesman ;  but  he  did  not  know  that  Ireland  was  one  of 
the  British  Isles.  He  suggested  to  me  that  it  lies  in  the 
Baltic,  and  seemed  rather  inclined  to  contest  the  point,  but 
I  put  my  foot  down  firmly — and  when,  looking  him 
straight  in  the  face,  I  told  him  I  knew  it  was  near  England, 
he  meekly  and  nicely  gave  in.  He  would  like  to  learn 
English ;  and  I  have  this  morning  taught  him  to  sound 
the  th  as  a  commencement.  I  made  him  put  his  tongue 
out  a  centimetre  between  his  teeth  and  withdraw  it  in  the 
act  of  speaking.  His  th  is  now  perfect :  and  so  far  he 
might  pass  for  the  Master  of  Rugby  1     •»<■    *    -x- 

"  As  the  Russians,  many  of  them,  have  a  superstition 
that  the  English  are  all  sailors  and  never  get  sick,  I  felt 
that  the  honour  of  the  flag  required  us  to  keep  up  this 
delusion  ;  and  Joseph  Neave  and  I  persisted  in  pacing  the 
deck  when  the  rest  had  given  in.  I  am  not  quite  sure 
that  the  effect  was  always  dignified ;  for  now  and  then  a 
bad  lurch  would  have  suggested  to  a  stranger  that  our 
abstinence  at  table  from  vodky  and  schnapps  was  not 
genuine  !  " 

To  his  Wife. 

In  the  Train  between  Sevastopol  and  Kharkoff,  S-3-93. 

"We  finished  our  voyage  yesterday  at  dusk,  just  in 
time  to  get  comfortably  from  our  steamer  to  the  station ; 
for  the  fog  had  delayed  us  three  or  four  hours. 

"  The  battle-field  of  Balaklava  lies  on  the  shore  on  our 
right,  before  we  get  to  Sevastopol :  i.e.^  to  the  east  of  it. 
Rounding  a  headland  we  pass  between  two  large  forts  into 
a  long  creek  or  arm  of  the  sea  with  low  hills  on  either 
hand.  At  a  little  distance  up,  on  the  right,  rises  the  town : 
its  suburbs  stretching  round  a  curve  in  front.  Looking 
this  way,  a  gentle  eminence  on  the  left  is  the  Malakoff. 
Further  still  on  the  left,  but  not  in  sight,  is  Inkerman ;  and 
in  the  hollow  leading  to  it  lie  the  Russian  dead. 

"  The  general  effect  of  the  town  itself  is  beautiful,  and 
deserving  of  its  name.     Picture  the  dark  blue  sea  in  front, 


230  SEVASTOPOL 

and  a  crescent-formed  hill  of  white  buildings  rising  from 
it ;  for  the  houses  are  new  and  white,  with  here  and  there 
a  blue  dome,  or  bit  of  other  colour  to  enliven  the  mass. 

"We  shook  hands  with  our  fellow-passengers  of  the 
saloon,  with  warm  wishes  on  their  part  for  our  safe 
journey,  and  the  success  of  our  errand :  one  grey-haired 
old  engineer  with  especial  feeling  bidding  us  God-speed, 
the  tears  filling  his  eyes.     -J*-    *    * 

"  The  crowd  on  the  quay  at  Sevastopol  was  very  great. 
It  took  some  time  to  get  disentangled  from  it,  and  see  our 
baggage  right ;  and  then  we  started  for  the  Station.  For 
military  reasons  this  is  placed  nearly  two  miles  inland, 
behind  a  hill  which  would  largely  shelter  it  from  bombard- 
ment. The  town  is  new  and  beautiful,  so  far  as  the  main 
streets  are  concerned,  although  a  great  many  houses  ( I 
think,  but  I  am  not  sure,  300)  are  still  in  ruins  from  the 
Anglo-French  bombardment.  Its  situation  is  of  the  very 
best  as  a  harbour,  and,  as  the  sea  is  never  frozen  here,  it 
is  certain  sooner  or  later  to  become  the  chief  port  of  Russia 
on  the  Black  Sea,  instead  of  Odessa,  which  is  often  badly 
blocked  with  ice.  In  the  drive  to  the  station  we  go  over 
the  shoulder  of  the  hill  with  a  long,  scarcely  perceptible 
rise.  On  our  left  is  a  long  valley,  the  opposite  side  of 
which  is  covered  with  hundreds  of  lights,  for  darkness  has 
now  set  in.  We  come  down  a  rather  steep  slope  to  the 
station,  which  is  a  very  handsome  one  :  strangely  in 
contrast  to  the  shed  that  forms  the  terminus  of  the 
Petersburg  main  line  at  Moscow. 

"  It  was  eight  o'clock  when  we  left  Sevastopol.  At 
nine  o'clock  [next  morning]  we  had  passed  miles  of  marsh 
and  flooded  land  from  the  River  Dnieper :  and  then  we 
got  to  Alexandrovsk,  a  prosperous-looking  German 
colony.  We  get  twelve  minutes  for  breakfast,  and  here, 
thanks  to  the  colonists,  we  could  get  good  cream  and  butter. 
With  the  breakfast,  I  got  rid  of  a  little  headache  from 
tobacco-smoke:  for  though  we  are  in  a  ' w/-kouri«stchi ' 


LITTLE  RUSSIA  231 

carriage,  they  smoke  just  the  same  !  I  sympathized  with 
Jonah  when  he  said  'Do  I  not  well  to  be  angry,'  as  I 
woke  with  the  sickly  smell  of  the  cigarettes.  I  don't 
suppose  Jonah  smoked — or  I  should  sympathize  with  the 
whale  also  that  swallowed  him !  To  speak  freely,  I  very 
often  think  of  Jonah.  He  was  what  the  Gloucestershire 
folk  would  call  '  a  very  middling  sort :'  and  lam  like  him, 

"  We  have  the  comfort  of  a  through  carriage  for  our 
run  of  nearly  a  thousand  miles  to  Moscow,  where  we  are 
due  to-morrow  evening  at  6.30:  about  46  hours  from 
Sevastopol.  Up  to  this  point  (Sinelnikovo  —  one  third  of 
the  way)  we  have  had  mild  air  and  scarcely  any  snow  on 
the  steppe  ;  but  here  the  ground  is  white  over  most  of  its 
surface.  The  cottages  here  in  '  Little  Russia '  are  almost 
all  thatched  ;  better  houses  red-tiled,  and  the  people  look 
fairly  prosperous.  Our  next  main  stop  is  at  Losovaya, 
where  we  get  an  hour  for  dinner. 

"  We  hear  it  is  still  very  cold  at  Petersburg,  last  week 
forty  degrees  below  zero !  I  forget  whether  I  mentioned 
that  case  at  Kars,  that  occurred  about  six  weeks  ago.  A 
soldier  was  sent  there  from  the  northern  part  of  Russia. 
He  had  a  brother  already  in  garrison  at  Kars,  and  on  his 
arrival  went  to  speak  to  him  at  his  post ;  (he  was  on  duty 
as  a  sentry.)  He  found  his  brother  stiff  and  cold  ;  standing 
frozen  to  death ! 

''  We  are  now  in  what  is  called  the  black  earth  zone  of 
Russia  :  a  belt  of  deep  rich  soil  running  all  across  from 
Poland  to  Orenburg  and  the  Ural  mountains.  As  we  see 
it  from  the  carriage  window  in  places  free  from  snow,  it 
looks  like  the  peaty  soil  of  some  parts  of  Ireland :  perhaps 
hardly  as  black.  It  runs  many  feet  deep,  and  in  some 
districts  they  go  on  never  manuring  it !  " 

To  his  Wife 

Petersburg,  11-3-1893 

"Even  yet  the  tired  feeling  has  not  quite  gone  from 

either  of  us,  the  result  in  total  of  our  long  journey  in  the 


232  ST.  PETERSBURG  AGAIN 

*  Zakafkaz.'  I  dare  say  this  counts  for  something — perhaps 
for  much — in  my  dull  mental  state :  for  I  feel  a  good 
deal  cast  down  in  the  realization  of  the  cruelty  and 
injustice  that  so  largely  reign  all  around  us ;  though  I  do 
not  know  that  there  is  any  fresh  cause  for  it. 

"  In  our  little  walk  yesterday,  taken  simply  for  exercise, 
we  crossed  the  Neva  on  the  ice,  in  a  long  diagonal  line  to 
the  '  Old  Fort '  of  Peter  the  Great,  where  the  Emperors 
lie  buried.  An  arm  of  the  Neva  runs  at  the  back  of  it, 
serving  as  a  moat ;  and  here  large  quantities  of  ice  are 
cut  and  carted  for  consumption  in  the  town.  It  was  miser- 
ably cold  ;  so  that  while  there  was  no  difficulty  in  keeping 
one's  body  warm,  the  face  seemed  as  if  it  were  ground 
by  the  tiny  dust-like  snow  that  was  blown  in  it  by  the  fierce 
west  wind. 

"  Behind  the  moat  is  a  park  or  plantation  of  trees ;  and 
as  we  were  walking  through  it,  the  chime  sounded  for  the 
three-quarter  hour.  I  had  heard  it  before  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Neva  ;  but  not  close,  like  this.  Even  more 
magical  than  before,  its  sound  seemed  to  me  ;  for  in  a 
moment  I  was  walking  in  Bishopsgate  Street,  and  sur- 
rounded by  the  throng  of  Friends  from  the  Yearly  Meeting. 
I  could  not  keep  back  the  tears.  I  think  I  have  never  felt 
so  low-spirited  since  leaving  home — but  the  time  is  short 
now !  " 

John  Bellows  felt  great  reluctance  to  leave  Russia  with- 
out seeing  Count  Tolstoi  once  more,  and,  as  the  stay  in 
St.  Petersburg  lasted  a  fortnight  longer,  a  visit  was 
arranged,  and  he  again  went  down  to  Moscow— this  time 
without  his  companion. 

To  his  Wife. 
Train,  Petersburg  to  Moscow,  19-3-93 
"The   snow   is    nearly   cleared   from   the   streets    of 
Petersburg,  but  here  on  the  line  there  has  been  a  little 
fresh  fall :    just  enough  to    make    everything    dazzling 


COUNT  TOLSTOI  233 

white  and  clean  again.  The  trees  are  beautiful  in  their 
last  winter  beauty.  The  spring  will  come  almost  suddenly 
on  them.  We  are  told  that  the  change  is  much  more 
rapid  than  with  us,  the  growth  of  the  leaves  being  almost 
magical.  I  expect  the  change  at  Upton  will  be  so  to  mef 
Train,  returning  Moscow  to  Petersburg,  20-3-93 

**I  have  now,  I  believe,  finally  done  with  Moscow.  It 
has  been  a  time  of  great  exercise  of  spirit  with  me :  of 
special  anxiety,  such  as  I  can  more  fully  make  clfar 
verbally  than  by  letter.  Three  or  four  visits  have  filled 
up  the  time,  but  by  far  the  larger  part  of  it  has  been  spent 
at  Count  Tolstoi's.  He  was  exceedingly  glad  to  see  me, 
and  I  feel  bound  up  in  him  more  than  I  can  express. 
There  are  some  things  in  which  we  see  eye  to  eye ;  and 
others  that  I  know  to  a  certainty  he  is  mistaken  in,  and 
which  I  would  give  much  to  open  his  eyes  to.  To-day, 
besides  the  conversation  at  his  own  house,  he  accompanied 
me  for  many  miles  over  Moscow  on  foot  and  in  the  trams. 
I  had  a  call  to  make  at  a  house  outside  the  city  on  the 
opposite  side  to  his  house  and  he  came  there  first  with 
me ;  afterwards  to  a  bookseller's  and  finally  to  the  hotel, 
till  nearly  the  train- time. 

"After  lunch  this  morning,  before  we  started  on  this 
roimd,  he  took  a  nap,  as  is  his  custom.  A  friend  of  his, 
who  seems  a  very  thoughtful  earnest  man,  and  one  of  his 
daughters  (Countess  Mary  Tolstoi)  remained  at  table, 
asking  me  about  Friends'  doctrines.  They  were  deeply 
interested ;  and  Mary  Tolstoi  said  it  was  of  great  interest 
to  them  that  one  should  come  from  so  far  off,  who  held  the 
same  doctrines  they  believed,  on  the  universality  of  the 
light  of  God,  and  other  points.  She  asked  if  I  believed  in 
the  Divinity  of  Christ.  I  said  '  I  do  believe  in  it ;  but  I  do 
not  think  it  would  be  of  any  benefit  to  thee  to  force  thyself 
into  it,  or  into  any  other  belief :  for  it  is  only  as  the  thing 
is  Divinely  made  manifest  to  us,  that  it  is  true  or  real  to 
us.     The  great  thing  is  for  all  of  us  to  be  faithful  to  the 


234  THE  DIVINITY   OF   CHRIST 

light  we  already  have.  That  will  lead  us  to  all  truth.' 
She  interpreted  each  point  to  the  visitor  as  we  proceeded ; 
and  then  she  mentioned  some  difficulty  that  seemed  to  her 
to  stand  in  the  way  of  her  accepting  Christ  as  God.  I 
advised  her  to  leave  this  at  present;  for  if  the  true 
revelation  of  His  character  came  to  her,  the  seeming 
difficulty  would  disappear.  I  put  the  differences  of  creed, 
and  yet  their  compatibility  with  our  holding  some  truths 
notwithstanding,  and  the  unity  of  spirit  resulting  from 
this,  as  follows: —  Each  of  us — i.e.,  every  one — has  a 
double  vision  in  these  matters.  We  see  the  real  truth  in  a 
manner  comparable  to  seeing,  say,  the  trees  in  the  garden, 
through  the  window.  This  I  will  call  our  spiritual  sense, 
or  that  which  we  have  through  immediate  revelation.  But 
we  have  also  an  intellectual  or  merely  human  apprehen- 
sion of  them  also,  which  may  be  compared  to  our  holding 
a  coloured  glass  between  our  eyes  and  the  window.  My 
glass  may  be  red;  my  neighbour's,  blue,  or  some  other 
colour.  Now  it  is  human  nature,  or  a  law  of  the  human 
mind,  that  we  should  imagine  this  coloured  glass  to  be  of 
capital  importance,  and  try  to  force  our  neighbour  to 
change  his  colour  for  ours.  But  a  mistake  here  may 
injure  his  sight.  The  main  thing  is  to  direct  him  to  that 
which  is  beyond,  and  leave  his  glass  alone  unless  we  are 
clearly  called  to  touch  it.  I  find  I  have  put  this  less 
distinctly,  here,  in  writing,  than  I  believe  I  was  enabled 
to  do  vivd  voce;  for  they  were  satisfied  that  it  is  the  truth. 
"Presently  the  two  youngest  children  came  in,  and 
began  to  coax  me  to  get  them  some  English  postage 
stamps:  for  my  carte,  etc.,  etc.  Little  Ivan  is  five:  his 
sister  Alexandra,  a  most  lovely  child  of  eight.  *  *  * 
The  two  little  ones  dragged  me  off,  at  this  point,  to  the 
nursery,  to  shew  me  their  toys  and  their  brother's  puppy. 
*  An  English  pointer,  Mr  Bellows.'  '  What  is  his  name?' 
'  O,  he  has  not  got  a  name  yet.  You  see  it  is — a  little 
girl  —  and  my  brother  would  rather  have  a  little  boy :   so 


'REPOSE  YOURSELF'  235 

it  will  be  changed.'  Ivan's  English  is  hardly  so  perfect  as 
his  sister's.  It  was  delightful  to  see  his  earnestness  as  he 
strove  after  words  to  say  what  he  wanted.  Their 
governess  is  a  young  [English]  lady,  and  the  nurse  a 
motherly  old  Russian  who  was  sorely  exercised  to  keep 
them  from  making  too  much  noise.  '  I  think  Mr  Bellows 
will  be  tired  with  your  taking  him  about  so,'  said  their 
sister  Mary,  coming  into  the  nursery — adding  some 
suggestion  about  shewing  me  to  her  brother's  room,  if  I 
wished  some  rest.  I  declared  that  I  would  rather  play 
with  the  little  ones  :  but  Ivan  dragged  me  to  a  couch — and 
pushing  my  head  towards  the  pillow,  said  '  Repose.  Now — 
you  can — repose — yourself — but  I  was  to  go  on,  while  I 
reposed  myself,  telling  them  stories  about  dogs,  Men 
entetidu  !  My  heart  fairly  ached,  in  the  vivid  remembrance 
of  our  own  Jack  and  Dorothy,  as  these  two  little  things 
stood  in  the  porch  shouting  '  Good-bye  ! '  after  me— and 
promising  to  come  to  Upton  to  play  with  my  children. 

*'As  we  left  the  house,  Mary  Tolstoi  slipped  on  her 
outdoor  wraps  and  went  on  before  us.  Three  hours  after, 
when  her  father  and  I  reached  the  hotel,  I  found  a  little 
parcel  of  toys  for  our  children,  with  the  note  enclosed. 

*'  '  Your  wife  will  not  like  you  to  come  back  looking  so 
thin,'  said  Count  Tolstoi,  this  evening,  as  he  was  bidding 
me  farewell  on  the  hotel  stairs.  '  You  must  tell  her  that 
you  are  not  feeding  yourself  enough  on  this  journey  :  and 
that  if  you  had  stayed  with  us,  we  would  have  looked 
after  you  better  than  you  are  doing  yourself.'  Again  and 
again  he  said  with  emphasis  :  *  How  glad  I  am  that  you 
came  over.     O,  how  glad  I  am  of  your  visit ! '    *    *    * 

*'  I  made  one  call  yesterday  on  an  elderly  lady  who  has 
had  a  great  fight  of  trials  and  doubts ;  and  when  I  told 
her  she  was  not  alone  in  some  of  the  things  she  mentioned, 
and  told  her  of  the  full  cup  that  I  had  had  to  drink  of  in 
the  past  week,  she  said,  after  a  pause,  *  Perhaps  it  has 
been  permitted  in  order  that  you  might  be  better  able  to 


236  LEAVING  RUSSIA 

say  a  word  of  comfort  and  encouragement  to  others.'  It 
may  be  so.  I  hardly  know.  What  I  do  know  is  that  I 
am  ready  to  sink  under  the  discouragements  of  the  whole 
position  ;  and  the  impossibility  of  hoping,  humanly  speak- 
ing, for  any  material  alteration  in  the  Russian  system  of 
persecution.  Joseph  Neave  is  more  hopeful ;  but  I  cannot 
test  his  hope  so  as  to  hold  on  to  its  margin  myself." 

To  his   Wife. 

"Last  Letter  from  Petersburg,  27-3-93. 

"  It  is  nearly  midnight  on  the  last  day  of  our  stay  in 
Russia ;  for  to-morrow  evening  we  must  be  on  our  way  to 
Berlin,  Minden  and  Paris.  It  is  with  very  mingled  feelings 
that  I  bid  farewell  to  the  city  that  has  played  so  eventful  a 
part  in  my  life  :  of  delight  at  the  nearing  home  again :  of 
thankfulness  for  the  help  we  have  had  from  above  :  of 
gratitude  and  love  to  the  many  dear  friends  who  have  done 
all  in  their  power  to  show  their  sympathy  with  us:  of 
sadness  that  my  own  share  in  the  work  is  weak  and 
unsatisfactory  :  so  much  so  that  I  could  wish  to  bury  it  for 
ever  out  of  my  memory,  and  only  to  retain  the  recollection 
of  the  friends  we  have  made,  and  the  interesting  spots  we 
have  travelled  in,  independently  of  the  occasion  of  the 
journey.  Part  of  this  is  probably  due  to  want  of  rest,  for 
the  day  has  been  a  tiring  one  ;  and  as  we  shall  be 
travelling  in  the  same  train  that  brings  the  mail,  with  this 
letter,  I  will  leave  it  for  to-night,  and  finish  it  en  route. 

28-3-93  (Third-day.) 

"It  is  7.30  at  night;  and  we  are  in  the  train  rolling 
away  from  Petersburg  for  Wilna :  really  going  home  at 
last!  A  very  beautiful  sunset  has  left  its  last  lines  of 
orange  light  above  the  serried  trees  on  the  horizon : 
orange  that  merges  imperceptibly  into  the  soft  quiet  blue 
sky.  Sunset  in  Petersburg  is  an  impressive  sight :  more 
than  in  any  other  capital  I  know,  from  the  quantity  of 
gilding  on  the  domes  and  spires.     It  is  a  decoration  of  no 


FAREWELL  GATHERING  237 

great  value  in  the  common  daylight,  but  at  sunrise  or 
sunset  the  effect  is  altogether  different ;  and  the  great 
burning  masses  and  flashing  lines  against  the  sky,  lift  the 
imagination  far  into  the  realms  of  poetry.  This  is 
especially  true  of  the  spire  of  the  Old  Fort,  with  its 
majestic  sweep  of  the  Neva  before  it,  and  snow-laden 
cloud  behind.  If  at  one  of  these  moments  of  splendour  the 
sound  of  its  bells  falls  on  the  ear — the  low  sweet 
melancholy  chimes  from  Ausland,  and  from  long  years 
ago — the  effect  is  overpowering. 

"  Quite  a  little  throng  of  friends  came  to  the  carriage 
side  to  see  us  off :  Baron  Nicolay,  William  Nicholson, 
William  Hilton  and  his  wife  and  both  their  sons,  their 
newly-married  daughter  and  her  husband,  Hermann  Fast, 
Dr  Selheim,  Mary  Selheim,  and  their  sons,  and  a  young 
Lancashire  Friend  who  is  here  in  a  cotton  mill.  We  had 
had  a  little  farewell  gathering  last  night  in  Pastor  Francis's 
room,  and  had  made  many  calls  yesterday  besides.  In 
the  morning  we  went  to  dear  old  George  Prince's— then 
to  the  lady  on  whom  we  made  nearly  our  first  call  in 
Petersburg,  and  who  was  then  newly  a  widow  ;  some 
fresh  tears  were  shed,  but  I  trust  not  altogether  without 
comfort  and  help.  Thence  we  went  to  the  British  Embassy, 
where  Lady  Morier  and  her  daughter  received  us  very 
kindly  ;  and  where,  after  lunch,  we  had  an  interesting 
half-hour  with  Sir  Robert  Morier  in  his  own  room.  He 
is  greatly  interested  in  the  journey  we  have  taken  ; 
though  he  is  ill.     *    -^^    * 

"The  family  with  whom  Pastor  Francis  lodges  have  a 
Finnish  servant.  After  the  company  had  gathered  (about 
20  or  so— mostly  not  those  who  came  to  the  station)  she 
stood  for  an  instant  in  the  doorway,  astonished,  and  told 
her  mistress  afterwards,  '  Why,  they  do  exactly  the  same 
in  their  meeting  as  we  do! '  (i.e.,  sit  down  in  silence  to 
worship,  only  speaking  if  they  feel  led  to  do  so.)  She 
belongs  to  a  body  of  spiritual  worshippers  of  which  I  had 


238  A  FINNISH   GIRL 

never  heard.  This  morning,  calling  to  bid  Pastor  Francis 
farewell  (for  he  was  obliged  to  be  elsewhere  last  night) 
we  asked  that  the  girl  might  be  called,  that  we  might 
shake  hands  with  her.  She  has  a  sweet,  serious  face ; 
and  as  we  shook  hands  she  said  something  in  Finsk,  and 
then,  unable  to  convey  her  thought  to  us,  she  burst  into 
tears  and  looked  up,  laying  her  hand  on  her  heart.  Her 
mistress  was  in  tears  too,  and  her  master  (a  Frenchman) 
not  far  from  the  same  state.  It  seems  she  was  at  the 
meeting  of  Finns  and  Swedes  where  we  had  that  double 
interpreting :  and  was  much  touched  there.     *    "^    * 

"  Sir  Robert  Morier  said  yesterday  that  he  hoped  I  had 
kept  a  diary  of  the  journey  we  had  made  in  the  Caucasus. 
He  added,  '  It  will  be  of  great  interest  in  years  to  come.' 

Train  going  to  Wilna,  29-3-93. 

"  I  did  not  get  to  sleep  till  the  small  hours,  which  thou 
canst,  I  am  sure,  well  understand,  from  the  strain  on  my 
mind,  and  the  excitement  of  being  so  near  our  beloved 
home.  The  whole  journey  with  its  unusual  events  is  still 
so  close  at  hand,  that  it  is  as  if  one  stood  just  under  a  cliff 
looking  up  at  it.  We  get  a  more  just  idea  of  its  pro- 
portions when  we  are  more  ^loign^s  from  it.  Wearied  as 
I  was,  it  really  crossed  my  mind  that  the  whole  thing  was 
a  dream,  intended  perhaps  to  teach  me  something,  and 
that  I  should  wake  and  find  that  it  had  never  been  a  reality ! 
♦  *  * 

Eydtkuhnen,  6*10  p.m. 

"  Here  we  are  actually  in  free  Europe  again — flying 
by  express  to  Berlin  and  shaking  beyond  anything  we 
have  had  since  the  springless  wagons  of  the  Caucasus ! 
At  Wirballen  our  passports  were  all  '  overhauled : '  ours 
being  in  due  order  we  were  allowed  to  quit  Russian  soil. 

Minden,  1-4-93. 

"  Yesterday  afternoon  the  Rasches  took  us  a  few  miles 
out  into  the  country  to  the  Porta  Westphalica.     This  is  a 


MINDEN  —  LONDON  239 

point  where  the  River  Weser  passes  between  cliffs  on 

either  hand  of  a  chain  of  wooded  hills  :  the  spot,  no  doubt, 

indicated  in  the  poem, 

*  Now  stood  Eliza  on  the  wood-crowned  height,* 

to  watch  the  battle  of  Minden :  when  a  stray  shot  struck 

her  dead.     From  the  top,  at  the  '  Silberblick,'  is  a  view 

over  many  hundreds  of  square  miles  of  Westphalia,  the 

winding  Weser  silvering  the  plain  at  a  score  of  points. 

Far  up,  on  our  right,  though  indistinguishable  from  here, 

is  Hameln  (of  the  '  Pied  Piper  '  story.)    It  was  a  holiday, 

and  we  met  or  passed  thousands  of  the  German  people  of 

the  middle  class,  out  for  a  walk  or  in  other  ways  enjoying 

themselves. 

"  The  stay  at  Louis  Rasche's  has  been  another  oasis  in 

our  journey.     All  the  family  do  their  utmost  to  shew  their 

care  and  affection  for  us  ;  and  they  would  have  kept  us  a 

week  if  we  had  so  wished,  very  gladly. 

Later 

"We  have  just  passed  Bielefeld — a  large  town,  and 
bearing  the  stamp  of  prosperity  that  is  so  indicative  of 
the  German  people,  and  the  fruit  of  the  seed  Martin 
Luther  sowed.  Oh,  what  a  contrast  to  poor  Russia !  But 
I  hope  Russia's  brighter  day  will  come  yet !  " 

The  two  companions  reached  London  on  April  6,  1893  ; 
and  on  the  following  day  gave  in  their  report  to  the 
Meeting  for  Sufferings,  to  its  entire  satisfaction. 

To  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  Boston. 

Gloucester,  15-7- 1893. 

*'  A  very  pleasant  but  flying  visit  we  have  had  this  week 
from  Rockwood  Hoar  and  his  wife  has  pressed  upon  me 
the  fact  that  I  have  long  owed  thee  a  letter  ;  and  I  must  at 
least  make  an  effort  to  pay  my  debt  without  more  delay. 

"  First,  let  me  thank  thee  heartily  for  the  beautiful  little 
volumes  of  thy  poems  published  by  David  Douglas,  who 
has  done  much  in  the  last  few  years  to  make  us  better 
acquainted  on  this  side  the  water  with  American  authors, 


240  CHIMES  OF  THE   *  OLD  FORT' 

and  this  in  a  form  that  does  credit  to  Edinburgh  printing. 
It  is  quite  a  treat  to  see  so  good  a  margin,  especially  on  so 
small  a  page  ;  for  in  this  utilitarian  age  the  utility  of  any 
margin  at  all  seems  passing  into  the  region  of  doubt,  in 
cheap  editions  ! 

"  Three  months  have  passed  since  I  returned  from  half 
a  year's  journey  in  Russia,  of  which  I  have  already  given 
thee  some  inkling  :  at  least  of  the  portion  of  it  passed  in 
Petersburg,  including  pleasant  and  profitable  hours  under 
the  roof  of  Andrew  White  at  the  U.S.  Legation.  I  have 
some  doubt,  however,  whether  the  letter  I  wrote,  and 
which  is  in  my  mind  as  I  pen  this  allusion,  ever  reached 
thee  ;  because  it  went  by  a  private  hand,  in  the  guise  of  a 
note  of  introduction  to  a  Russian  gentleman  who  may  per- 
chance not  have  visited  Boston.  I  remember  mentioning 
in  it  the  effect  of  the  chimes  from  the  towers  of  the  '  Old 
Fort,'  as  their  melody  stole  over  the  waters  of  the  Neva  to 
the  Palace  Quay,  in  which  Andrew  White's  house  stands. 
They  were  London  bells  of  long  ago  ;  and  to  hear  their 
soft  sweet  tones  in  that  far  northern  land  was  to  open  the 
floodgates  of  memory  suddenly,  and  overwhelm  one  with 
sights  and  sounds  of  home.  Twice  while  in  Petersburg 
I  passed  under  this  spell ;  but  the  predisposing  mood  in 
which  it  finds  one  makes  all  the  difference  between  a  spell 
of  pleasure  or  of  pain.  In  the  autumn  sunset,  just  after 
hearing  Ellen  M.  White's  description  of  a  visit  to  places 
and  persons  in  England  well  known  to  my  friend  Neave 
and  myself,  the  London  chimes  mingling  with  the  sound 
of  the  sweeping  Neva,  wove  themselves  into  what  had 
gone  before,  in  a  quiet  delight ;  but  when,  weeks  after, 
we  were  walking  on  the  ice  over  the  silenced  river,  and  I 
heard  them  again,  close  under  the  walls  of  the  Fort,  it  was 
very  different.  I  was  in  very  low  spirits  that  morning, 
for  what  reason  I  cannot  tell ;  but  when  the  clear  and 
mournful  notes  again  reminded  me  of  Old  England,  I 
could  not  keep  back  my  tears.     I  shall  not  forget  how  I 


A   MOUNTAIN  PANORAMA  241 

was  roused,  however,  from  my  reverie,  by  the  sharp 
sting  of  their  freezing  on  my  face !  For  the  air  was 
intensely  cold.  It  is  no  use  crying  when  the  thermometer 
is  below  zero ! 

*'  Paradoxical  as  it  may  sound,  the  difference  between 
pleasure  and  pain  is  not  always  one  of  kind,  but  some- 
times it  is  of  degree  only.  I  remember  in  the  beginning 
of  the  present  year,  when  we  had  been  travelling  for  some 
days  among  the  mountains  of  the  Lesser  Caucasus,  on  the 
borders  of  Persian  Armenia,  we  emerged  at  last  on  the 
edge  of  a  height  overlooking  the  vast  plain  of  the  Koura, 
east  of  Tiflis.  Two  thousand  feet  below  us  lay  the  station 
of  Daliar ;  sixty  or  eighty  miles  away  rose  the  wall  of  the 
great  Caucasian  Mountains,  nearly  two  hundred  miles 
long,  by  11,000  feet  high.  The  optical  effect  was  as  if 
a  curve  bounded  the  horizon  from  left  to  right :  though  in 
reality  the  line  is  nearly  straight.  But  the  mind  cannot 
receive  or  assimilate  such  an  indescribable  picture.  The 
eye  wandered,  wearied  out,  over  the  uncountable  peaks 
and  spires  and  precipices,  unable  to  convey  the  ideas  they 
suggested.  A  hundred  miles  on  the  left  were  the  shining 
summits  of  Kasbek,  over  16,000  feet  in  height ;  a  hundred 
miles  off,  in  front,  was  one  of  the  great  mountains  of 
Daghestan,  over  14,000 ;  between  them,  and  around  them, 
and  beyond  them,  and  below  them,  were  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  points  and  lines  and  cliffs  and  depths  :  white 
and  dark  and  rose-coloured,  and  pink  and  ethereal,  in- 
numerable, bewildering,  incomprehensible,  overpowering, 
endless  :  so  far  beyond  giving  pleasure  to  the  eye,  that 
one  longed  for  the  darkness  of  night  to  fall  and  hide  them 
from  one  for  ever.  It  was  as  if  some  multitude  of  sweet 
sounds  had  loudened  and  gone  on  loudening  till  they 
terrified  and  deafened  the  hearer,  and  made  hearing  itself 
impossible. 

"  The  truth  is  that  all  our  capabilities— all  the  powers 
and    liabilities    and    conditions    of   our    existence    are 
p 


242  OUR  CAPABILITIES 

suspended,  as  Mahomet's  coffin  was  said  to  be,  between 
heaven  and  earth  :  between  forces,  either  of  which,  if  we 
pass  the  narrow  limits  within  which  we  are  bounded,  is 
destruction.  A  few  degrees  in  the  variation  of  the  ther- 
mometer bring  us  to  the  walls  of  our  Life- castle  on  either 
hand  ;  and  if  we  overleap  them  it  is  to  perish  in  measure- 
less cold,  or  its  opposite  of  fiercest  fire.  The  guarding 
battlements  that  keep  us  from  this  leap  are  of  Pain :  the 
centre  area  between  their  lines  is  our  limit  of  Pleasure. 
If  we  try  to  enlarge  this  by  striding  beyond  it,  it  ceases 
to  be! 

* '  If  one,  only,  out  of  all  that  infinitude  of  mountains  had 
been  in  view,  it  would  have  given  the  pleasure  that 
accompanies  the  flow  of  knowledge  into  the  mind  when  it 
is  in  harmony  with  the  Creation ;  because  the  eye  could 
have  seized  and  classified  its  lines  in  somewise,  compre- 
hending some  of  its  parts,  and  apprehending  even  where 
it  could  not  comprehend :  but  hundreds  of  miles  of  moun- 
tains in  one  moment  of  time  are  not  meant  for  the  mind  of 
man  to  deal  with,  any  more  than  thousands  of  degrees  of 
heat  or  cold  are  intended  to  be  gauged  by  his  bodily 
sensations. 

"  I  brought  home  a  large  number  of  photographs  from 
Tiflis,  which  give  my  friends  in  England  pleasure  to  look 
over,  though  they  do  not  convey  the  impression  of  the 
originals  of  the  passes  and  cliffs  they  represent.  How  can 
a  camera  give  a  precipice  4,000  feet  in  height  ?  It  cannot 
even  approximate  the  effect  ;  though  what  it  gives  one 
instead  is  an  agreeable  substitute  for  it. 

"  Tiflis  is  a  wonderful  city  for  photographs.  I  think  I 
am  well  within  the  mark  in  saying  that  we  had  our  choice 
of  over  10,000  views.  In  the  month's  residence  we  had 
to  make  there,  we  visited  all  the  principal  studios  :  chiefly, 
so  far  as  I  was  personally  concerned,  to  obtain  a  selection 
of  the  types  of  the  races  that  people  this  most  remarkable 
country.    For  as  it  has  been  the  highway  of  the  nations 


STRABO  243 

migrating  from  Asia  to  Europe  in  ages  past,  so  it  has 
become  the  halting-place  and  home  of  little  groups  from 
among  them  which  are  now  represented  by — shall  I  say, 
fifty  or  sixty  tribes  differing  in  race  and  speech.  Strabo 
mentions  as  many  coming  down  in  his  day  to  Dioscurias, 
a  port  on  the  Euxine  Sea,  which  became  the  Sebastopol  of 
the  Roman  Empire  (not  the  modern  town  of  that  name, 
which  is  in  the  Crimea)  and  finally  Sukhitm  Khale  of 
to-day. 

"  It  was  marvellously  interesting  to  see  how  much  of 
Strabo's  description  holds  good  of  the  Trans-Caucasus,  at 
this  very  hour.  The  fierce  tribe  of  the  Soanes  at  the  foot 
of  Elbruz  is  still  there  ;  and  I  have  made  a  magic-lantern 
slide  of  one  of  these  wild  sheepskin-clad  *  Suans,'  as  they 
are  now  called,  which  would  match  anything  in  the  way 
of  Indians  on  your  continent !  The  old  historian  tells  of 
underground  dwellings,  guarded  by  dogs  as  large  and 
fierce  as  lions  :  I  have  been  in  those  very  houses,  and 
narrowly  escaped  being  bitten,  if  not  torn  in  pieces,  by 
dogs  the  exact  colour  of  lions,  and  of  such  proportions  as 
to  need  but  small  eking- out  by  oriental  imagination  to 
justify  Strabo's  estimate  of  their  size.  I  wandered  one 
day,  exploring,  into  the  back  streets  and  alleys  of  the 
Tartar  quarter  of  Tiflis,  when  I  disturbed  a  little  mite  of  a 
dog  which  had  the  meanness  to  go  off  in  search  of  one  of 
those  classical  and  dreadful  brutes.  The  great  dog  came 
on  deliberately,  howling  and  barking  in  a  way  I  wish  to 
forget,  as  if  he  was  in  no  hurry,  but  would  seal  my  doom 
once  for  all.  Providentially,  a  little  boy  of  from  four  to 
five  years  old  emerged  from  a  doorway  at  the  very  instant, 
and  caught  the  monster  by  the  neck.  What  he  did  I  could 
not  make  out ;  but  the  bigger  animal  gave  a  shriek  and 
turned  away,  and  the  little  one  crept  into  a  hole :  so  that, 
as  John  Bunyan  has  it,  '  I  saw  them  no  more.'  In  one  of 
the  villages,  where,  at  every  door  lay  one  of  these 
Strabonian  lions,  with  his  face  all  covered  with  scars — the 

P2 


244  VISIT  TO  A   CAVE -DWELLING 

marks  of  battles— a  beloved  friend,  a  follower  of  Count 
Tolstoi,  put  into  my  right  hand  a  stick,  and  into  my  left  a 
slice  of  rye-bread :  and  following  his  example,  I  offered 
every  dog  we  met,  his  choice.  Fortunately  they  all  pre- 
ferred the  bread.  Even  when  the  supply  failed,  though 
they  growled,  they  refrained  from  attack,  no  doubt  with 
an  eye  to  future  favours  ! 

"  I  think  the  most  interesting  thing  we  met  with, 
archseologically,  was  a  cave-dwelling  near  the  border 
of  Persia.  It  was  just  on  the  edge  of  an  Armenian  village 
(Gerusi)  and  our  interpreter  asked  permission  for  us  to 
see  the  interior,  of  two  women  who  stood  at  the  door. 
They  were  veiled  over  the  mouth,  oriental- wise,  and  led 
us  to  understand  that  it  would  be  contrary  to  custom  for 
us  to  enter  in  the  absence  of  the  master  of  the  house.  He 
happened  to  come,  however,  at  the  instant,  and  very 
courteously  bade  us  welcome.  We  passed  into  a  domed 
room  cut  out  of  the  soft  volcanic  stone — the  roof  glistening 
black  with  smoke,  for  there  was  no  chimney.  A  deep  pit 
in  the  floor  was  the  oven :  covered  at  this  time  with  a 
slab  to  keep  the  baby  from  a  premature  grave.  Near  it 
was  a  very  pretty  divan,  covered  with  carpets  tnade  in 
the  cave.  The  floor,  though  of  earth,  was  beautifully 
clean  ;  and  the  whole  place  had  an  air  of  comfort  that  took 
one  by  surprise.  Gerusi  is  one  of  the  centres  of  this 
carpet  making,  and  I  have  a  rug  I  brought  back  from 
there,  which  our  visitors,  the  Hoars,  will  tell  thee  would 
not  disgrace  any  drawing-room  in  Europe  or  America : 
though  it  is  not  of  the  finest  Persian  make.  The  room 
might  be  twenty-five  feet  in  diameter.  At  its  farthest  side 
was  a  loom  with  a  short  piece  of  coarse  linen  in  it.  This 
the  good  man  kindly  spared  me  for  a  few  kopeks.  His 
wife  took  down  her  spinning-wheel  to  show  us  ;  but  some- 
thing about  it  was  out  of  order,  and  it  would  not  work. 

*'  These  Armenians  are  very  Jewish-looking,  and  some 
of  them  are  said  to  be  descendants  of  Jews  who  settled 


THE  PAST  IN  THE  PRESENT  245 

here  at  the  close  of  the  Babylonish  captivity :  for  we  were 
not  very  far  from  the  head- waters  of  the  Euphrates.  The 
Jewish  manners  and  customs  strike  one  at  every  turn,  and 
carry  one  back  as  if  by  magic  to  the  earliest  modes  of  life 
on  earth  ;  while  we  caught  glimpses,  even  in  the  picture 
that  imveiled  itself  before  us,  of  those  ages  of  Abraham, 
Moses  and  Job,  of  possibilities  in  many  directions  that 
have  since  developed  into  the  things  of  otir  every-day  life  : 
the  same  materials  for  clothing  :  the  same  implements  for 
working :  and  we  close  the  door  of  the  cave-dwelling 
silently,  in  the  thought  well  expressed  by  Gaston  Boissier 
in  his  charming  article  on  la  Vieille  Sor bonne — *  rien  ne 
commence :  tout  se  continue  /'" 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

OLIVER  W.  HOLMES  — SENATOR  HOAR  — AMERICAN  ANTIQUARIAN 
SOCIETY  —  PAIGNTON  —  LETTERS  ON  RELIGIOUS  SUBJECTS- 
LATIN  V.  SAXON— ARCHAEOLOGY- TOLSTOI  — KHAMA  — CHELSEA 

THE  following  letter  from  Dr  Holmes  refers  to  a 
description  of  village  life  in  Gloucestershire,  w^hich 
John  Bellows  had  sent  to  him. 

Boston,  January  2ist,  1891. 
"My  dear  Mr  Bellows, 

"  I  got  your  letter  yesterday  and  cannot  answer  it 
fittingly,  being  oppressed  with  my  wearying  correspon- 
dence, much  of  which  is  of  an  uninteresting  nature. 

"  It  is  enough  to  say  that  I  thank  you  most  heartily  for 
one  of  the  most  charming  letters  I  ever  received.  My 
intelligent  young  lady  secretary  read  it  aloud  to  me — 
every  word  of  it — and  we  both  agreed  that  your  account 
of  the  boy  and  the  top,  and  all  the  rest  of  it,  were  perfectly 
delicious.  We  thanked  God  that  there  are  such  sweet, 
intelligent,  receptive  natures  as  yours,  whose  very  touch 
transfigures  the  common  objects  of  life  and  throws  an 
ideal  atmosphere  round  them  without  destroying  their 
nature,  and  also  we  thanked  Him  for  giving  us  both  the 
capability  of  appreciating  your  exquisite  pictures  of  life 
as  it  met  you  in  your  daily  walks.  We  shall  both  feel 
happier  all  day  for  reading  that  letter,  and  I  don't  believe 
we  shall  ever  forget  it. 

"  I  thank  you  for  your  permission  to  make  extracts  from 
letters  of  yours — you  need  not  be  surprised  if  by  and  by 
I  avail  myself  of  your  permission.     *    *    * 
"  Believe  me,  dear  Mr  Bellows, 

"  Always  faithfully  and  cordially  yours 

O.  W.  Holmes." 


SENATOR  HOAR  247 

A  visit  to  England  by  Senator  George  F.  Hoar  in  the 
summer  of  1892,  led  to  a  warm  friendship  between  him 
and  John  Bellows.  Gloucester  having  been  the  home  of 
Senator  Hoar's  ancestors,  the  city  has  always  had  a  special 
attraction  for  him,  and  his  occasional  visits  to  it  were 
eagerly  welcomed  by  John  Bellows.  While  the  latter 
was  on  his  Russian  journey,  he  was  much  gratified  to 
hear  of  his  election  as  a  member  of  the  American  Anti- 
quarian Society— an  honour  which  he  shared  with  a  few 
distinguished  Englishmen,  and  which  he  owed  to  Senator 
Hoar's  introduction.  He  contributed  occasionally  to  the 
Proceedings  of  the  Society,  and  Senator  Hoar,  in  his 
delightful  'Autobiography,'  lately  published,  records  his 
estimate  of  the  literary  value  of  one,  at  least,  of  these 
contributions. 

From  Senator  Hoar,    Worcester,  Mass, 

Worcester,  Mass.,  May  4,  1893 

"My  dear  Mr  Bellows, 

"  I  am  glad  to  hear  from  Mr  Taylor  that  you  have  got 
home  again.  I  hope  your  important  mission  to  Russia 
was  fruitful  of  good  result.  I  trust  God  may  raise  up  for 
that  unhappy  country  a  Sovereign  who  will  be  another 
Peter  the  Great  in  genius,  who  will  do  justice,  love  mercy, 
and  lead  his  people  in  the  paths  of  constitutional  liberty. 

"  The  report  of  the  proceedings  of  the  meeting  of  the 
American  Antiquarian  Society  for  October,  1892,  has 
been  sent  to  you.  -^  *  *  i  write  chiefly  to  say  that  I 
hope  you  will  contribute  for  us  a  paper  for  our  next 
meeting,  which  will  be  in  October.  You  can  select  your 
own  subject.  And  you  may  be  sure  that  what  is  common 
learning  to  you  will  be  of  great  interest  to  us.  If  you 
were  to  tell  us  what  you  told  me  and  Mrs  Hoar  in 
conversation,  about  the  laying  out  of  roads  and  cities  by 
the  Romans  when  they  occupied  Britain,  and  their  fashion 
of  military  dispatches,  and  their  measurements,  with  any 
special  account  of  the  laying  out  of  Gloucester,  it  would 
be  of  great  interest.  Or  we  should  be  glad  to  hear  any- 
thing about  the  English  Puritans,  or  any  local  matter 


248  AMERICAN  ANTIQUARIAN  SOCIETY 

connected  with  the  siege  of  Gloucester,  like  the  story 
which  one  of  your  townsmen  has  told  so  well  about  John 
Massey.  Or,  if  you  have  investigated  the  matter,  we 
would  like  to  know  the  view  which  you,  as  a  member  of 
the  Society  of  Friends — an  historical  investigator — take  of 
Macaulay's  accoimt  of  William  Penn,  the  founder  of 
Pennsylvania.  You  may  possibly  think  that  subject  has 
been  exhausted.  But  it  will  always  have  an  interest  for 
Americans,  especially  if,  as  we  hope  and  believe,  Macaulay 
can  be  shown  to  have  been  greatly  mistaken.  But  all 
these  are  merely  to  suggest  to  you  the  kind  of  paper  that 
would  give  us  great  pleasure.  It  would  be  better  still  if 
you  were  to  come  here  and  read  it  yourself. 

"  I  dined  in  company  with  your  friend,  Dr  Holmes,  last 
Saturday.     He  was  as  bright  and  sparkling  as  ever.     His 
eighty-three  years  have  made  little  impression  upon  him. 
"  I  am,  faithfully  yours, 

George  F.  Hoar." 

In  1894,  John  Bellows  contributed  a  paper  to  the 
American  Antiquarian  Society,  on  *  the  Past  in  the  Present 
in  Asia ' — showing  the  relation  which  exists  between  our 
modern  tools  and  methods,  and  the  ancient  ones  still  in 
use  in  the  Transcaucasus. 

To  Senator  Hoar,   Worcester,  Mass. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  5-3-1894. 

"  As  to  thy  kind  suggestion  that  I  should  come  over  and 
read  the  paper  myself,  I  can  assure  thee  I  would  gladly 
do  so  were  I  able  to  command  a  few  weeks  of  leisure  ; 
but  at  present  I  am  tied  by  a  variety  of  engagements  that 
must  be  met.  Still,  I  do  look  forward  to  such  a  visit 
some  day  ;  for  I  have  so  many  dear  and  valued  friends  on 
your  side  of  the  Atlantic,  that  I  cannot  help  a  feeling  of 
New  England  being  very  close  indeed  to  Old  England. 

"  I  think  it  will  interest  thee  to  know  that  I  tried  the 
effect  of  the  article  I  have  just  sent  thee,  a  few  days  ago, 
upon  a  company   of  about  seven  hundred  smiths  and 


BOATING  AT  PAIGNTON  249 

working  engineers,  employes  of  my  old  friends,  the 
Tangyes,  of  Birmingham.  I  did  not  read  the  paper  to 
them,  but  gave  them  magic-lantern  shdes  of  the  scenery 
I  travelled  through  in  the  Caucasus,  the  town  of  Tiflis,  etc., 
and  showed  them  the  forgings  *  I  describe  in  the  paper. 
I  never  had  a  more  appreciative  audience ;  for  the  tech- 
nical side  of  the  subject  suited  them  peculiarly." 

During  the  summer  of  1893,  ^fter  John  Bellows'  return 
from  Russia,  he  spent  a  month  at  Paignton,  Devonshire, 
with  his  family.  While  staying  there,  he  wrote  to  his 
invalid  friend,  John  Soper,  the  account  of  a  day's 
excursion  here  given. 

To  John  Soper ^  Gloucester. 
On  board  the  hooker  *' Gertrude,"  Torbay,  25-8-1893. 

"  In  less  than  a  week  I  expect  we  shall  be  back  in  the 
usual  groove  at  Gloucester,  and  to-day  we  have  chartered 
this  vessel  for  our  last  sail  south  :  for  we  are  bound  for 
Dartmouth.  It  is  a  sunny  morning,  with  a  blue  sky  flecked 
with  white  clouds,  and  a  tiny-rippled  sea.  The  hooker 
takes  this  designation  from  its  being  destined  to  the 
peche  a  la  ligne^  as  distinguished  from  trawling  :  for 
the  trawlers  are  the  principal  bateaux  pecheurs  of 
Brixham,  towards  which  port  we  are  at  this  moment 
heading  our  course.  The  ship  is  four  tons  burden,  fitted 
with  a  seat  all  round  the  stern-sheets,  in  which  the 
whole  of  my  family,  except  Max  and  Willie,  are  variously 
occupied :  Dorothy  and  Lucy  in  sailing  boats  astern,  and 
admiring  the  seaworthy  qualities  which  enable  such  small 
craft  to  progress  either  on  the  water  or  below  it— on  an 
even  keel,  or  capsized,  as  the  case  may  be.  My  wife,  who 
ought  to  have  taken  precedence  in  the  category,  is  calmly 
employed  in  knitting.  Marian  and  Jack  are  employed  as 
I  am,  in  letter- writing :  Jack's  epistle  being  to  Max,  and,  I 
suspect,  descriptive  of  the  voyage.  Kitty,  who  is  always 
a  practical  person,  is  at  the  helm,  obedient  to  the  hints 
*  Models  of  tools  in  use  in  the  Caucasus. 


250  OFF   BERRY  HEAD 

*  Port,'  '  Starboard,'  or  '  Steady,'  which  drop  at  intervals 

from  the  boatman.    Philip  is  engaged  in  a  general  prowl 

over  the  ship  :  now  climbing  the  mast,  to  his  mother's 

apprehension,  and  anon,  without  re-assuring  her,  leaning 

over  the  bows  to  a  degree  that  raises  the  question  of  his 

being  able  to  swim,  which  he  assures  us  he  can  do. 

"  I  have  been  on  Windermere  when  the  water  has  not 

been  so  smooth  as  this  which  now  quietly  '  laps '  our 

bows ;   and  the  motion  is  only  enough  to  send  one,  if 

so  minded,  to  sleep  !     Here  is  the  perpendicular  cliff  of 

Berry  Head  just  before  us  ;  far  away  on  the  east  is  Lyme 

Regis  ;  and  less  distant,  Exmouth,  Dawlish,  Teignmouth, 

and  the  many-coloured  rocks  of  Babbacombe  and  Torquay. 

The  latter  is  a  queenly  watering  place,  with  marvellous 

evidence  of  wealth  :  wealth  that  can  purchase  beauty  of 

landscape  and  comfort  of  habitation,  but,  inutile  de  dire, 

not  rest  of  mind  or  happiness. 

'  While  place  we  seek  or  place  we  shun, 
The  mind  finds  happiness  in  none.' 

— not  place,  then,  but  state  of  soul  is  the  true  thing  to 

aim  at! 

"  A  low  roar  like  distant  artillery.  What  is  it?  Stone 
being  shot  from  yon  red  quarry  on  board  a  sloop  for 
Exmouth.  Of  course,  in  so  uneventful  a  passage  as  ours, 
this  is  an  event,  and  all  hands  suspend  work  to  look  at  the 
operation. 

"  I  wish  thou  couldst  feel  the  delightful  air  on  thy  brow 
that  fans  mine  as  we  tack— air  that  seems  made  for  music 
itself— like  that  of  Frithiof's  Saga,  where  the  Viking  is 
running  before  the  wind,  homeward-bound  to  the  north- 
east: 

'  For  the  western  winds  in  the  canvas  sing 
Like  nightingales  with  the  voice  of  spring : 
And  the  blue  veiled  daughters  of  Egir  play 
Swift  round  the  rudder,  and  dance  away.' 

It  is  to  buy  this  air  that  all  that  gold  has  been  spent 
at  Torquay ! 


NEARING  DARTMOUTH  251 

"2  p.m.  We  stood  out  into  the  Channel,  hoping  to  get 
more  breeze,  and  instead  have  had  nearly  a  dead  calm. 
For  an  hour-and-a-half  we  have  had  to  use  the  14-foot 
oars,  making  a  rate  which  even  Jack,  sitting  on  the  boom 
and  blowing  with  all  his  might  on  the  mainsail,  has  not 
sensibly  altered !  Great  oily  swells  that  heave  us  up  and 
down,  in  place  of  the  water  like  Windermere.  The 
monotony  is  broken  by  passing  a  fishing  boat,  from  whose 
stern  they  have  suspended  a  shark  about  three  feet  long- 
one  of  the  bottle-nosed  sort.  Bottle-nosed  men  are  not 
well-spoken  of ;  but  sharks  with  this  adjective  bear  a  good 
reputation  as  harmless. 

*'As  we  roll  up  and  down,  we  draw  by  insensible 
degrees  nearer  Dartmouth  Harbour.  Forty  or  fifty  craft 
enliven  the  sea  before  us,  for  to-day  is  the  regatta  in 
which  the  '  Britannia'  and  '  Navahoe'  are  competing. 

"  3-30  o'clock.  This  letter  is  written  a  batons  rompusi 
No  sooner  had  I  reached  the  end  of  last  paragraph,  than 
I  had  to  lay  down  the  pen  for  the  oar ;  and  after  a  long 
spell  at  it,  I  was  fain  to  let  Philip  take  my  place.  The 
poor  boy  worked  on  until  I  could  willingly  have  released 
him,  but,  in  view  of  the  way  he  had  spent  some  of  his  time 
latterly,  I  concluded  to  let  him  be.  Rowing,  even  to  tiring 
point,  is  at  least  safe ;  but  I  doubt  whether  the  same  can 
be  said  of  sitting  astride  on  the  end  of  the  jib-boom,  with 
his  stockings  off,  to  plunge  his  feet  into  the  billow  at  the 
dip  of  the  bows. 

"  And  now  a  breeze  has  sprung  up  unexpectedly,  so 
that  our  sails  are  again  bellied,  and  we  are  making  way. 
We  shall  be  in  the  Dart  directly  ;  and  if  in  this  sauntering 
letter  I  have  been  at  all  able  to  make  thee  a  sharer  in  our 
voyage,  I  shall  be  well  repaid." 

To  Colonel  Carleton,  Clevedon 

30-8-1894. 

*'  I  am  struck  with  the  condition  of  trial  in  which  I  think 

every  one  of  my  correspondents  is  more  or  less  placed  in 

Petersburg:  some  by  outward  circumstances,  and  some 


252     WATCHFULNESS  UNTO  PRAYER 

by  more  hidden-  means.  They  remind  me  of  the  passage 
about  the  Israelites  being  '  all  baptised  in  the  cloud  and  in 
the  sea '  in  their  journey  through  the  wilderness  ;  for  this 
is  the  case  with  every  human  soul  in  its  travel  towards  the 
State  of  Rest.  There  are  times  when  the  suffering  seems 
too  heavy  to  bear,  and  we  are  ready  to  cry,  '  Master, 
carest  thou  not  that  we  perishl'  But  the  alternation 
comes,  and  we  are  not  left  to  perish.  On  the  contrary,  if 
we  sink  into  a  silent  watching  before  God  we  emerge 
from  the  conflict  with  profit ;  with  at  least  some  grains  of 
the  gold  tried  in  the  fire,  which  the  Heavenly  Wisdom 
counsels  us  to  buy  that  we  may  be  rich. 

"  And  I  am  certain  that  there  is  no  advance  possible,  in 
our  experience,  beyond  the  state  of  children,  '  tossed 
to  and  fro '  with  the  trials  we  have  to  pass  through,  until 
we  come  to  this  inward  silence  of  the  natural  will,  this 
'  ceasing  from  our  own  thoughts,'  this  abstaining  from 
'  leaning  to  our  own  understanding.'  Nor  is  it  a  matter  we 
can  attain  to  in  a  day.  We  have  to  learn  it  as  all  other 
things  are  learned,  beginning  with  imperfect  effort,  and 
being  schooled  by  our  very  mistakes,  which  are  patiently 
borne  with,  and  progressing  slowly,  very  slowly  at  times, 
towards  the  state  to  which  we  are  called.  But  here,  as  in 
outward  things,  the  hand  of  the  diligent  maketh  rich  ;  and 
the  more  we  keep  in  watchfulness  unto  prayer,  the  more 
we  shall  grow  in  the  true  knowledge  of  God,  and  of  Christ, 

His  manifestation  to  us." 

Gloucester,  10-9- 1894. 
•5t    ^    -x-    <<  J  thank  thee  for  Drummond.    The  imagined 
disaccord  between  the  Scriptures  and  modern  discovery 
never  gave  me  a  moment's  uneasiness.     Two  real  truths 
can  never  clash.'' 

To  his  daughter  Marian. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  i  3-9-1894. 
**  I  never  attended  a  more  solidly  satisfactory  wedding 
than  's.     I  use  these  words  as  exactly  expressing 


A  WEDDING  253 

the  sense  that  seemed  to  me  the  pervading  one— not  of 
racketing  merrymaking,  but  of  quiet,  still  happiness,  and 
an  underlying  blessing  of  God  on  it.  We  seldom  make 
any  approach  at  realising  the  close  interest  our  Heavenly 
Father  takes  in  us,  His  children ;  not  merely  in  what  we 
deem  the  acts  of  religion,  but  in  all  that  concerns  our 
daily  life. 

"  As  I  woke  yesterday  morning  the  feeling  of  this  came 
home  to  me,  with  the  recollection  of  that  solemnly  beautiful 
opening  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews :  *  God,  who  spake 
in  time  past  unto  the  fathers  by  the  prophets,  hath  in  these 
last  days  spoken  unto  us  by  His  Son.'  Of  course  the 
writer  referred  to  the  outward  coming  and  life  and  death 
of  our  Saviour ;  but  as  He  is  Infinite,  so  the  ways  in 
which  His  voice  reaches  us  are  also  infinitely  varied.  We 
hear  its  distant  tones  in  the  outward  creation  from  sunrise 
to  sunset,  and  all  through  the  darkness  of  the  night,  every 
day  and  night  of  our  journey  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave, 
and  in  every  wave  of  happiness  and  of  grief  that  we  meet 
with  in  our  way ;  and  we  heard  it,  many  of  us,  in  our 
hearts,  on  the  wedding-day  we  all  spent  so  cheeringly. 
For  as  it  is  true  that  '  in  all  their  affliction  He  was  afflicted,' 
it  is  equally  and  correlatively  true  that  in  their  every  glad- 
ness He  too  is  a  sharer ;  and  in  every  joy  and  sorrow  His 
word  to  us,  often  very  gently  breathed,  is,  *  My  son  —  or 
my  daughter,  give  me  thine  heart.'  I  was  much  impressed 
with  the  spirit  that  prompted  the  endeavour  to  begin  the 
wedding-day  with  an  acknowledgment  of  the  Divine 
Presence;    and  I  am   much  mistaken  if  there    are  not 

several  hearts  in  the  little  company  now  at ,  whose 

secret  longing  is  to  draw  nearer  to  this  Everlasting 
Spring,  and  to  make  life  what  it  was  intended  to  be :  a 
means  of  glorifying  Him  who  gave  it.  How  much  depends 
on  cherishing  such  desires !  They  would  increase  to 
greater  strength  in  us  if  we  oftener  turned  quietly  in  heart 
to  the  Communion  with  God  that  is  possible  at  all  times  : 


254  ALEXANDER  III. 

a  simple  turning  to  the  Light  and  keeping  in  the  Light, 
instead  of  casting  about  us,  like  Naaman,  for  some  great 
thing — some  grand  coup  that  is  to  do  wonders  for  us, 
which  itself  is  instead  of  the  everyday  humble  watchful- 
ness which  in  the  end  will  bring  us  to  see  our  mistakes, 
and  gradually,  very  gradually,  to  overcome  them  all."' 

To  Joseph  James  Neave^  Sydney. 

Gloucester,  30-10-94. 

'*Thou  wilt,  I  know,  have  felt  concern  at  the  sudden 
failure  of  the  Emperor's  health  [Alexander  IIL  of  Russia,] 
and  at  the  uncertainty  and  gloom  this  has  caused  over 
Europe.  His  position  has  come  home  to  me  very  painfully. 
It  is  impossible  not  to  feel  sympathy  with  a  strong  man, 
who,  in  the  midst  of  a  task  such  as  few  men  would  burden 
themselves  with,  even  from  a  sense  of  duty,  finds  himself 
compelled  suddenly  to  relinquish  his  position  to  those 
who  are  but  partially  acquainted  with  its  responsibilities. 

•X-  *  -x-  -x- 

"  There  is  a  time  to  be  silent,  and  a  time  to  speak  ;  and 
we  have  both  been  reticent  on  points  we  would  willingly 
have  talked  of,  if  talking  would  not  have  been  harmful  to 
the  cause  we  wish  above  all  to  be  served.  But  in  this 
instance,  it  seemed  clear  to  me,  it  was  time  to  speak  out ; 
and  I  wrote  to  the  '  Scotsman '  as  one  of  the  provincial 
papers  with  great  influence,  an  account  of  the  Emperor's 
visiting  the  old  nurse  who  attended  him  as  a  child,  reading 
the  English  Bible  to  her  ;  and  of  his  simple  -  hearted 
conduct  on  the  day  of  the  funeral.  Thou  wilt  recollect  our 
being  told  this  at  the  house  of  the  English  Chaplain,  who 
witnessed  it  all.  The  whole  incident  is  a  most  touching 
one  ;  exceedingly  to  the  honour  of  Alexander  III.  ;  and  I 
cannot  but  think,  in  reference  to  it,  of  Thomas  Carlyle's 
view  ;  i.e..,  that  the  measure  of  any  man's  real  reverence 
for  what  is  good  in  the  conduct  of  another,  is  the  measure 


THE  POWER  OF  SYMPATHY  255 

of  his  own  love  for  what  is  just  and  true.  There  can 
be  no  question  whatever  that  the  tendering  influences 
of  the  nurse's  teaching  told  largely  on  Alexander's 
character. 

"  The  letter  was  copied  from  the  '  Scotsman  '  by  some 
other  papers ;  and  I  can  see  that  the  incident  makes  a  deep 
impression  on  the  working  men  who  read  it ;  softening 
them  towards  a  man  whom  they  regarded  as  but  a  tyrant, 
and  inducing  a  better  feeling  towards  his  country.  Possibly 
thou  mayest  see  thy  way  to  getting  it  into  some  paper 
at  Sydney ;  but  of  this  thou  art  a  better  judge  than  I 
am.  I  know  how  completely  our  views  are  as  one  with 
regard  to  the  real  character  of  the  Emperor  ;  and  how 
glad  thou  wouldst  be  to  see  a  kindly  feeling  towards 
him  become  general  amongst  Englishmen  as  well  as 
others." 

To  Senator  Hoar^   Worcester,  Mass. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  1-1-1895. 

*'  I  thank  thee  for  the  pamphlet,  *  The  Opportunity  of 
the  Colored  Leader,'  which  I  have  read  with  interest.  It 
is  a  delicate  subject,  handled,  it  seems  to  me,  with  great 
tact ;  and  it  is  well  to  the  point. 

*'Race  preferences  are  inevitable,  just  as  certainly  as 
are  individual  predilections  ;  but  they  are  perfectly  com- 
patible with  the  right  balance  of  justice,  and  the  play  of 
sympathy  which  softens  off  all  edges  and  dividing  lines 
that  come  in  our  way.  No  system,  political,  social,  or 
religious,  will  really  lead  to  harmonious  life  among  men 
without  this  one  element  of  quick  sympathy.  It  is  a 
master-key  that  opens  all  locks.  We  look  forward  in 
hope  of  some  millennium  —  some  golden  age  in  which 
no  wrong  shall  exist ;  yet  this  one  power  of  sympathy 
which  is  at  this  very  moment  potentially  within  the 
attainment  of  every  man  is  all  that  is  needed  to  bring  it 
about." 


256  LATIN    V.   SAXON 

To  the  same. 

Gloucester,  7-1-1895. 

'■'■Encore  une  fois  de  plus!  I  have  to  thank  thee  for 
thinking  of  me ;  this  time  in  sending  me  thy  speech  on 
Webster. 

"  Thy  remark  on  Latin  v.  Saxon  in  language  specially  in- 
terests me.  Somehow  I  can  never  get  deep  enough  into  the 
essence  of  the  thing  to  decide  whether  the  one  or  the  other 
should  really  take  the  higher  place  ;  but  my  instinct  leans 
to  the  Saxon,  as  a  leading,  but  not  an  exclusive  medium  of 
expressing  the  highest  thought.  That  is,  Saxon  with  here 
and  there  a  dash  of  Latin — a  little  touch  or  soupQon  of  it ; 
for  a  very  little  in  some  compounds  means  a  very  great 
change  in  the  effect,  o-i  of  carbon  added  to  pure  iron 
toughens  it  and  hardens  it  into  a  good  steel  for  many  uses. 
Put  in  0*5,  and  it  becomes  brittle — a  different  metal. 

*'It  is  a  question  of  mind,  of  the  cast  of  mind,  too. 
Macaulay  tried  to  de-Latinize  himself,  if  I  may  so  put  it, 
by  reading  '  Pilgrim's  Progress '  through  fifteen  times  ! 
But  his  mind  was  in  no  way  the  pendant  to  Bunyan's :  it 
was  not  the  same  size  or  shape ;  and  he  had  as  much 
chance  of  fitting  Bunyan's  language  as  he  had  of  fitting 
his  leather  breeches. 

"  '  Punch'  commented  many  years  ago  on  the  advertise- 
ment of  a  manual,  '  Every  Man  his  own  Lawyer,'  to  the 
effect  that  a  more  wicked  state  of  society  could  not  be 
imagined  than  one  in  which  every  man  was  a  lawyer  \ 
But  'Every  Man  his  own  Speaker'  is  certainly  a  truth. 
We  may  modify  our  own  natural  and  inherent  lines  of 
thought,  and  therefore  expression,  to  a  very  large  extent, 
by  copying  other  men;  yet,  au  fond,  there  is  a  shape  that 
is  ours  individually,  and  ours  alone-ly  of  all  the  thousands 
of  millions  of  men  that  ever  lived. 

*'  But  to  return  to  the  point  of  power  inherent  in  a 
tongue  to  express  thought  with  beauty.  I  look  upon 
Shelley's  as  the  most  inherently  melodious  flow  of  English 


SHELLEY  257 

language  of  this  century ;  and  I  note  that  his  mastery  of 
Greek  plays  a  singular  part  in  his  poetry  in  this  regard ; 
i.e.,  his  pen  use  of  Greek  place-names  and  Classic  per- 
sonal-names. 

*  Aretkusa  arose 
From  her  couch  of  snows 
In  the  Acroceraunian  mountains, — 
From  cloud  and  from  crag, 
With  many  a  jag, 
Shepherding  her  bright  fountains.' 

"  Yet  he  could  produce  the  most  perfect  lines  with  pure 
Saxon,  as  in  his  '  Lines  to  an  Indian  Air ' :  — 

'  I  arise  from  dreams  of  thee 

In  the  first  sweet  sleep  of  night, 
When  the  winds  are  breathing  low, 
And  the  stars  are  shining  bright  : 

I  arise  from  dreams  of  thee, 

And  a  spirit  in  my  feet 
Has  led  me — who  knows  how  ? 

To  thy  chamber  window,  sweet ! ' 

"  Only  one  Latin  word  in  eight  lines !  But  the  first 
verse  is  music  beyond  music  as  it  seems  to  me ;  and  the 
words  such  as  might  express  the  loftiest  thought,  as  well 
as  these  simple  ones." 

To  Colonel  Carleton,  Boxmoor. 

Gloucester,  25-6-95. 

"  The  Roman  remains  at  Boxmoor  would  have  a  great 
interest  for  me ;  and  there  are  some  other  places  in  Hert- 
fordshire that  I  have  been  pressed  to  come  and  see  for 
a  similar  reason.  At  a  guess,  which  I  do  not  lay  stress  on, 
these  remains  will  probably  belong  to  the  time  of  Valen- 
tinian,  or  just  after.  He  put  everything  in  fresh  order  in 
this  land ;  and  much  of  the  building,  pavement,  pottery, 
etc.,  that  has  come  down  to  us  dates  from  this  point. 

'*  The  period  was  one  of  immense  moment  to  the  Roman 
world.  Valentinian  had  ordered  the  removal  of  the  statue 
of  the  Goddess  of  Victory  from  the  Senate  House  in  Rome. 
Q 


258  SYMMACHUS  AND   AMBROSE 

The  old  Tories  of  the  House  of  Lords  were  strongly 
against  this,  and  they  deputed  Symmachus  as  their  repre- 
sentative to  the  Court  of  the  young  Emperor  Gratian — 
then  a  boy  of  fourteen— at  Milan,  to  plead  for  its  restora- 
tion.    (This  was  of  course  after  Valentinian's  death.) 

"  Symmachus  made  a  splendid  speech,  appealing  to  the 
patriotism  of  the  council  on  the  grounds  that  under  the 
protection  of  the  Goddess  of  Victory,  Rome  had  gone  on 
for  a  thousand  years  to  become  the  mistress  of  all  the 
world ;  and  that  she  had  given  them  bounteous  harvests, 
and  blessed  and  prospered  them  in  every  way— while  on 
the  other  hand,  directly  her  image  was  removed  from  the 
Hall,  a  blast  had  lighted  on  them,  and  a  ruined  harvest 
hinted  to  them  what  they  must  expect  if  they  continued  to 
slight  her  power. 

"The  cousin  of  Symmachus  was  Prefect  of  Milan:  a 
Christian — a  man  of  such  consummate  ability  that  not  long 
before  this,  the  Christians  of  Milan,  struck  by  the  wisdom 
of  his  counsel  in  a  difficult  case  (the  appointment  of  a  new 
bishop,)  insisted  on  his  becoming  bishop  himself.  This 
was  Ambrose  (now  called  '  Saint  Ambrose.')  Greatly 
looked  up  to  by  the  boy-sovereign,  he  counselled  him  not 
to  yield.  All  the  cabinet  were  against  him — overpowered 
by  Symmachus'  eloquence.  But  Ambrose  smashed  his 
speech  to  atoms,  making  great  capital  out  of  the  point 
about  the  bad  harvest.  That  was  some  years  ago.  Last 
year's  was  a  most  splendid  harvest — and  this  showed 
either  that  the  Goddess  of  Victory  was  satisfied  to  be 
removed,  or  that  she  had  no  voice  in  the  matter. 

"That  speech  sealed  the  downfall  of  nominal  heathenism 
in  the  Roman  Empire— for  Gratian  would  not  yield  an 
atom,  and  the  cabinet  gave  way  to  his  view." 

To  his  son   William 

Gloucester,  27-7-95. 
"Yesterday  I  had  to  fulfil  my  engagement  to  lecture  at 
Caerleon  to  the  Cotteswold  Club,  on  the  Roman  occupation 


CAERLEON  259 

of  that  district.  An  unusually  large  number  came  — 
between  40  and  50 ;  and  the  day  was  a  considerable 
success.  One  point  struck  them  much.  I  carried  with 
me  the  new  Ordnance  map  of  the  village,  showing  the 
Roman  wall ;  and  then  I  produced  one  of  the  Gloucester 
maps,  also  traced  from  the  25- inch  Ordnance.  I  said,  '  I 
have  never  yet  tried  the  experiment,  but  my  impression  is 
that  the  Second  Legion,  in  moving  to  their  new  quarters 
at  Caerleon,  copied  the  old  camp  so  exactly,  that  if  I  lay 
this  Gloucester  map  on  the  Caerleon  one,  it  will  nearly 
fit.'    I  did ;  and  they  fitted  within  a  very  fine  fraction  !  " 

To  a  Correspondent. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  4-7-1895. 

**  Thou  hast  been  so  constantly  present  to  my  mind 
since  I  left  thy  house  that  I  hope  I  may  not  go  beyond 
what  is  right  in  venturing  to  say  as  much. 

"If,  in  time  of  spiritual  trial,  it  were  within  our  own 
power  to  comfort  and  help  one  another,  we  should  never 
be  left  face  to  face  with  the  alone  Source  of  all  true  help 
and  comfort ;  for  the  mere  action  of  our  natural  sympathy 
would  prompt  us  to  relieve  the  pain  we  cannot  but  share. 

"This  natural  sympathy  is  a  help,  and  a  right  one, 
when  it  comes  in  as  part  of  the  Divine  ordering ;  but  not 
when  it  seeks  to  make  a  short  cut,  and  forestall  the  Divine 
ordering.  How  often,  alas,  do  inexperienced  Christians 
make  this  mistake,  both  on  their  own  behalf,  and  on 
behalf  of  others.  They  are  comparable  to  children  in 
a  sick  room,  who,  impatient  because  the  doctor  has  not 
come,  take  his  work  into  their  own  hands  and  hunt  about 
the  medicine  cupboard  to  find  an  anodyne  that  may  have 
been  given  by  the  doctor  himself  to  some  other  patient,  or 
to  the  same  patient  when  in  a  different  state. 

"  But  the  patient,  whether  his  pain  be  dulled  or  not,  is 
thrown  back  by  this  unskilful  dealing  :  and  not  less  cer- 
tainly are  we  thrown  back,  spiritually,  when  we  deal  to 

Q2 


26o  THE  NATURAL  MIND 

ourselves  or  others  comfort  that  is  not  freshly  dispensed 
to  us  by  the  Great  Physician.  Everything  depends  on 
that  word  '•freshly.^  Ah !  surely  it  is  better  to  suffer  pain^ 
and  doubt  and  uncertainty  of  every  kind,  than  to  snatch  at 
relief  from  wrong  sources  ! 

*'  The  natural  mind  in  us — the  flesh — that  never  com- 
prehends the  things  of  God,  struggles  to  the  last  against 
^z>^c^  dependence  on  Him,  putting  everything  and  anything 
in  as  a  reason  why  we  should  depend  on  something  short 
«|(  of  Him.  And  so,  when  the  hour  of  darkness  overtakes  us, 
it  prompts  us  to  kindle  sparks  of  our  own  instead  of 
patiently  waiting  for  the  arising  of  the  true  light.  And 
sparks  of  our  own  are  very  specious  :  sometimes  even  to 
lean  on  the  prayers  of  another,  or  of  others,  are  such 
sparks,  and  not  true  fire. 

" Let  him  '  that  walketh  in  darkness  and  hath  no  light' 
*  *  *  *  trust  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  and  stay  upon 
his  God.' 

"  We  seek  light  upon  our  path  in  the  natural  under- 
standing—but it  is  often  God's  purpose  to  leave  the  natural 
apprehension  of  things  completely  in  darkness  with  us,  in 
order  that  we  may  in  deed  and  reality  trust  in  the  power — 
the  secret,  inwardly  revealed  power  of  the  Lord :  for 
nothing  short  of  this  is  trusting  in  His  name,  and  staying 
upon  Him. 

"  And  it  is  this  denial  of  light  to  the  natural  mind  that 
the  prophet  describes  :  '  Verily  thou  art  a  God  that  hidest 
thyself,  O  God  of  Israel,  the  Saviour ! '  Yes,  He  hides 
Himself  from  the  natural  man,  and  by  so  doing  draws  us 
away  from  the  old  nature  to  the  new.  *  I  will  bring  the 
blind  by  a  way  that  they  knew  not.'  '  I  will  lead  them  in 
paths  that  they  have  not  known :  I  will  make  darkness 
light  before  them,  and  crooked  things  straight.'  I  feel 
that  thou  hast  indeed  crooked  things  to  get  through, 
though  I  do  not  know  the  forms  they  take.  This  much  is 
certain— that  no  human  help  can  straighten  them,  or  ought 


PRAYER  261 

to  be  permitted  to  straighten  them — for  otherwise  God 
would  not  have  the  glory.  Yet  the  end  is  sure.  *  These 
things  will  I  do  unto  them  and  not  forsake  them.' 

"I  know  of  no  other  way,  in  these  deeper  depths,  of 
trusting  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  staying  upon  God, 
than  sinking  into  silence  and  nothingness  before  Him. 
And  this  I  am  certain  is  what  is  meant  in  the  words,  '  The 
name  of  the  Lord  is  a  strong  tower  :  the  righteous  runneth 
into  it,  and  is  safe  ! '  So  long  as  the  enemy  can  keep  us 
reasoning,  he  can  buffet  us  to  and  fro ;  but  into  the  true 
solemn  silence  of  the  soul  before  God  he  cannot  follow  us. 
To  leave  all  results  and  come  to  this  silence  is  to  enter  the 
impregnable  tower." 

To  Emily  Dobell*  Painswick. 

Gloucester,  5-9-1895. 

"The  point  thou  hast  mentioned  is  the  vital  one:  for 

Prayer  is  the  very  beginning  and  end  of  our  true  spiritual 

life :  but  not  always  prayer  in  words,  or  even  in  words 

shaped  in  thought,  but  unuttered.     If  we  are  bidden  to 

*  pray  without  ceasing,'  it  is  evident  that  this  must  cover 
wider  ground  than  speech  or  active  thought. 

"  There  is  an  attitude  of  mind  as  in  the  presence  of 
God  which  I  believe  corresponds  to  this  prayer  without 
ceasing,  and  which  is  described  in  the  Psalms,  etc.,  as 

*  Waiting  upon  the  Lord.'  I  recollect  that  my  father,  who 
was  fond  of  the  study  of  Hebrew,  pointed  out  to  me  that 
the  word  in  the  original  in  such  passages  was  *  To  be 
silent  unto  the  Lord.'  '  They  that  are  silent  unto  the  Lord 
shall  renew  their  strength,'  etc. 

"  I  had  mentioned  this  to  Count  Tolstoi,  in  reference  to 
something  that  occurred  in  our  conversation.  He  was 
much  interested  in  it ;  and  fetching  Young's  Concordance 
he  asked  me  to  give  him  a  passage  in  point.  We  turned 
to  the  closing  portion  of  the  40th  Isaiah,  and  as  the  chapter- 

*Mrs  Sydney  Dobell. 


262  PRAYER 

division  there  happens  to  come  in  the  wrong  place,  cutting 
off  a  verse  that  really  belongs  to,  and  completes  the 
passage  itself,  we  read  on  to  the  end  of  the  first  verse 
in  Chapter  41. 

"  Count  T.  turned  to  the  Hebrew,  and  said  quietly, 
*  Yes ;  it  is  so :  They  that  are  silent  unto  the  Lord  shall 
renew  their  strength :  they  shall  mount  up  with  wings  as 
eagles,'  etc.  '  Keep  silence  before  Me,  O  Islands,  and  let 
the  people  renew  their  strength."* 

"  This  is  a  deep  matter  ;  and  I  feel  the  danger  of  getting 
beyond  my  depth  in  touching  on  it ;  yet  not  to  realize  it  is 
to  lose  the  greatest  help  we  can  have  in  our  spiritual 
course.  To  sink  into  the  reverent  silence  of  the  will  and 
of  self,  before  the  Almighty,  is  to  '  dwell  in  the  secret 
place  of  the  Most  High,'  and  to  '  abide  under  His  shadow  : ' 
that  is,  to  be  in  the  closest  communion  with  God  that 
is  possible  for  a  human  soul.  This  is  the  essence  and 
foundation  of  prayer,  whether  words  are  given  to  us 
in  utterance  of  it,  or  whether  they  are  withheld  ;  for  there 
are  times  when  the  very  withholding  is  but  the  means  of 
enabling  us  more  immediately  to  perceive  the  Divine 
voice — perhaps  a  still,  small  voice. 

"  I  cannot  add  much  ;  but  I  am  certain  that  no  one  who 
has  once  found  the  help  and  strength  that  are  experienced 
in  this,  will  ever  again  rest  in  any  lower  experience.  It 
is  a  laying  hold  of  the  Power  of  the  Almighty  in  times  of 
trial,  of  storm,  of  temptation  that  threaten  to  destroy  us  ; 
and  it  was  this,  surely,  that  Solomon  meant  when  he  said, 
'  The  Name  of  the  Lord  is  a  strong  tower :  the  righteous 
rimneth  into  it,  and  is  safe."*  " 

The  following  characteristic  letter  from  Count  Tolstoi 
was  an  acknowledgment  of  a  sum  of  money  which  had 
reached  him  from  John  Bellows  for  the  relief  of  one  of 
Tolstoi's  friends  on  the  Contment.  The  style  of  the 
original  has  been  retained. 


TOLSTOI  ON  MONEY  263 

[Postmark  dated  October  22,  1895] 

"Dear  Friend, 

"  I  received  your  letter  and  the  draft  for  ninety-two 
roubles,  and  will  send  it  to  Tchertkoff,  who  will  forward  it 
to  its  destination.  I  am  sorry  that  Tchertkoff  addressed 
himself  through  you  to  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  I  will 
avow  it  to  you,  that  it  is  very  disagreeable  to  me  that  I 
have  something  to  do  with  this  matter.  If  I  thought  that 
it  is  good  for  a  Christian  to  have  money  at  his  disposal 
and  that  good  could  be  done  by  money,  I  would  have  kept 
my  fortune  and  would  help  people  by  my  money.  But  as 
I  think  that  a  Christian  ought  not  to  have  any  property  and 
that  it  is  impossible  to  do  any  good  through  money,  I  can 
never  ask  for  money,  not  for  me  not  for  anybody  else.  If 
people  find  right  as  you  do  to  give  their  money  to  other 
men  and  will  do  it  through  me,  as  they  did  in  the  time  of 
the  famine,  I  will  do  as  they  wish,  but  I  would  rather  not 
have  anything  to  do  with  money  matters,  which  are  always 
full  of  sin.  And  this  is  an  example  of  it.  You  are  not 
rich  but  nevertheless  you  gave  a  good  sum  of  money 
with  the  best  wishes,  and  this  gift  of  yours  has  awakened 
in  me  very  bad  feelings  :  it  seemed  to  me  that  you  must 
reproach  me  of  inconsistency  or  in  want  of  delicacy,  if 
not  asking,  letting  others  ask  money  for  my  friends  from 
strangers  when  the  members  of  my  family  are  rich. 

"  Excuse  me  for  saying  all  this,  but  I  prefer  to  be 
sincere  with  you  because  I  like  and  esteem  you  very  much, 
and  have  retained  from  our  intercourse  the  most  kind 
remembrances. 

"You  have  heard  I  think  of  the  persecution  of  the 
Duchobori  that  is  going  on  in  the  Caucasus.  I  have  sent  a 
correspondence  about  it  to  my  friend  Mr  John  Ken  worthy 
(London)  and  it  will,  I  hope,  appear  very  soon  in  the 
English  papers. 

"  With  best  love,  your  friend 

Leo  Tolstoy" 


264        CHRISTIANITY  AND   CIVILIZATION 

To  Senator  Hoar^   Worcester,  Mass. 

Gloucester,  England,  15-11-95. 

"  In  Russia,  a  body  of  people  [the  Doukhobors]  quite 
unconnected  with  Friends  have  lately  refused  to  bear 
arms  ;  but  along  with  the  belief  that  it  is  wrong  for  us  to 
kill  one  another,  they  have  adopted  Count  Tolstoi's  teach- 
ing that  all  government  is  abhorrent  to  the  spirit  of 
Christianity !  I  had  some  little  talk,  when  at  Moscow, 
with  Count  T.  on  this  point ;  but  could  find  no  common 
basis  to  argue  from.  He  has  an  idea  that  civilization, 
which  admits  of  so  many  existing  evils,  is  itself  the  cause 
of  evil,  and  so  would  do  away  with  it.  Of  course  he 
is  inconsistent :  just  as  a  man  would  necessarily  be  who 
tried  to  do  away  with  gravitation.  Thus,  he  resorts  to 
the  press  constantly,  to  spread  his  opinions  ;  but  how 
he  could  have  typefounding  and  paper-making,  etc.  etc., 
without  even  a  very  advanced  stage  of  civilization,  passes 
my  comprehension !  So  with  money.  He  looks  on  it  as 
inherently  sinful,  and  so  has  as  little  to  do  with  it  as 
possible  ;  though  here  again,  of  course,  he  cannot  get 
away  from  the  thing,  though  he  may  from  the  name. 
Andrew  White  visited  him  not  long  before  he  left  Russia  ; 
and  I  fear  lost  patience  with  his  unpractical  ideas.  Yet 
behind  and  underneath  all  this  there  is  something  really 
good  in  him  ;  and  a  sympathetic  power,  which  has  a  great 
reach  over  most  of  those  who  come  in  contact  with  him. 

"It  is  very  hard  for  an  American  or  an  Englishman  to 
make  sufficient  allowance  for  a  Russian  nobleman  who 
desires  to  lead  a  life  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  God. 
He  begins  on  a  level  far  below  ours  ;  that  is,  he  is  about 
where  men  of  the  same  class  were  in  Europe — or  at  least 
in  England — three  or  four  centuries  ago.  We  ought  not, 
then,  to  judge  a  man  by  where  he  is,  but  by  the  direction 
in  which  he  is  moving.  And  by  this  standard  Tolstoi 
deserves  our  deep  respect.  By  the  way,  I  recollect 
remarking  to  him,  in  course  of  a  walk  across  Moscow, 
that  there  are  two  ways  in  which  we  may  describe  a  stone 


TOLSTOI  —  KHAMA  265 

of  ore.  We  may  say  *  This  stone  is  of  value,  for  five  per 
cent,  of  it  is  gold : '  or,  '  There  isn't  much  good  in  this 
stone.  Why,  ninety -five  per  cent,  of  it  is  rubbish  I  He 
said,  *  You  are  right.  We  ought  to  look  at  the  gold,  and 
not  at  the  rubbish ! ' 

"By  and  by,  as  we  were  standing  on  the  foot-plate  of 
a  tramcar,  he  turned  suddenly  upon  me,  and  looking  me 
full  in  the  eyes,  said,  '  Why  did  you  say  that  to  me  about 
the  stone  and  the  gold  ? '  I  was  forced  to  make  a  clean 
breast  of  it,  and  admit  that  what  I  had  in  my  mind  was, 
that  it  might  do  him  good  to  come  to  England  and  see 
some  other  phases  of  society  than  those  to  which  he  had 
been  accustomed  in  Russia  ;  but  that  any  benefit  he  might 
derive  thus,  would  depend  on  his  own  state  of  mind.  If 
he  looked  at  the  defects  of  our  friends,  he  would  find  plenty 
to  occupy  him,  for  they  are  not  perfect ;  but  if  he  were 
disposed  to  look  at  the  good  side,  it  would  help  him.  He 
assented  to  this. 

"  I  don't  know  why  I  should  run  on  with  this  gossip,  but 
Tolstoi  is  so  remarkable  a  man  that  I  believe  thou  wilt 
excuse  me  for  doing  so.  He  is  narrow-minded  in  some 
directions  (as  we  all  are,  inherently!)  and  to  see  some- 
thing outside  of  Russia  would  tend  to  broaden  his  views 
on  the  real  effects  of  civilization  as  distinguished  from 
some  of  its  diseases !  " 

The  visit  of  Khama,  the  Bechuana  Chief,  to  this  country 
in  1895,  to  plead  for  the  exclusion  of  intoxicants  from  his 
country,  roused  the  attention  and  sympathy  of  the  Society 
of  Friends,  and  Edmund  Wright  Brooks  and  John  Bellows 
were  appointed  to  seek  an  interview  with  the  Colonial 
Secretary  on  the  subject.  This  was  granted,  and  an 
opportunity  was  also  given  for  them  to  meet  Khama  and 
his  two  companions,  Bathoen  and  Sebele. 

To  Colonel  Carleton,  Clevedon. 

Gloucester,  2-12-95. 
"  A  fortnight  ago  it  was  my  lot  to  go  with  another 
Friend  (Edmund  Wright  Brooks)  as  a  deputation  from 


266         PROHIBITION   IN   BECHUANALAND 

the  Society,  to  the  Colonial  Secretary  (Joseph  Chamber- 
lain) to  hand  him  a  memorial  praying  that  Khama  might 
be  permitted  to  still  keep  alcoholic  drink  out  of  his 
territory.  He  has  fought  a  hard  battle  to  keep  his  people 
from  this  curse  ;  and  it  would  be  sad  if  the  power  of  the 
Empire  were  used  to  force  back  such  a  work. 

"  Joseph  Chamberlain  was  fmly  in  sympathy  with  the 
object,  though  he  explained  to  us  some  of  the  difficulties  of 
entirely  excluding  drink  from  the  territory.  Still  he  has 
done  more  than  has  ever  been  attempted  before,  for 
he  not  only  will  not  permit  any  new  licenses,  but  he  is 
going  to  extinguish  one  in  Bathoen's  reserve,  which  Lord 
Ripon  had  granted.  No  liquor  will  be  allowed  for  sale  on 
any  terms  ;  and  where  desired  for  private  consumption  by 
white  settlers,  they  must  apply  for  and  obtain  a  permit. 
If  they  abuse  this,  or  give  any  of  the  liquor  so  obtained,  to 
natives,  the  permit  will  be  at  once  taken  away.     "^    *    * 

"  The  day  after  we  saw  the  chiefs  they  were  received 
by  the  Queen,  who  expressed  herself  very  strongly  on  the 
desire  she  has  that  the  curse  of  drink  shall  not  be  per- 
mitted in  Khama's  territory.  It  is  very  gratifying  that 
they  have  been  so  well  received  in  England  ;  but  in  the 
opening-up  of  their  country,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of 
our  government,  some  harm  is  sure  to  follow  the  advent 
of  white  settlers.  Khama  will  have  to  face  new  trials ; 
but  he  is  a  man  to  bear  them  in  the  right  spirit,  and  profit 
by  them.  '  Many  shall  be  purified,  and  made  white,  and 
tried ^^  is  a  word  of  great  depth  and  meaning  for  all  who 
seek  to  do  rights 

To  Professor  Bonet-Maury,  Paris. 

Gloucester,  25-12-1895. 
"  Wilt  thou  accept  my  best  thanks  for  the  copy  of  '  Le 
Congres  des  Religions  a  Chicago '  which  has  reached  me 
this  morning  ? 


CONFUCIUS  267 

"  The  first  part  at  which  I  open  (after  the  kind  inscrip- 
tion inside  the  cover)  is  page  104— (Chine.)  This  will  be 
of  special  interest  to  me  :  for  I  have  read  the  works  of 
Lao  Tse,  Confucius,  and  Mencius,  as  far  as  they  are 
accessible  to  us  in  English ;  Professor  Legge,  of  Oxford, 
being  the  Sinologue  to  whom  we  are  most  in  debt  for  this 
literature.  I  shall  not  soon  forget  a  delightful  half  hour  or 
more  that  I  had  at  his  house,  when  he  gave  me  a  descrip- 
tion of  a  visit  he  paid,  before  leaving  China,  to  Confucius' 
country.  The  Philosopher's  descendants,  who  are  a  clan 
to  themselves,  number  about  thirty  thousand ;  and  the 
head  of  this  clan  is  still,  as  he  was,  a  duke.  The  Chinese 
had  five  orders  of  noblesse,  very  much  like  those  in  feudal 
Europe,  and  which  are  still  existing  here  in  England. 
About  the  second  century  of  our  era  these  ranks  were 
abolished  ;  but  out  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  Confucius, 
his  descendant  was  made  an  exception,  with  the  result 
that  at  this  moment  there  is  still  a  '  duke '  descended  in 
right  line  from  the  Philosopher  —  certainly  the  oldest 
family  nobility  in  the  world  !  Two  thousand  five  hundred 
years  ! 

"Professor  Legge  has  a  '  rubbing'  of  the  tombstone  of 
Confucius  that  he  made  when  on  the  visit  referred  to.  It 
may  be  about  70  or  80  cm.  by  45  cm.  At  the  head  is  the 
likeness  of  Confucius  himself,  and  below,  arranged  in  a 
carve,  are  his  four  principal  disciples,  Mencius  and  Tseng 
being  the  upper  two.  The  latter  was  the  ancestor  of  the 
Ambassador  Tseng,  well  known  in  Paris  and  London 
a  dozen  years  ago. 

"  Now,  in  the  figures  of  these  men  there  are  square  caps 
on  their  heads,  exactly  such  as  are  now  worn  by  students 
at  Oxford.  I  asked  Professor  Legge  whether  this  was 
really  the  fact,  that  such  caps  were  worn  as  far  back  as 
the  time  of  Confucius.  He  said, '  That  cap  has  been  worn 
in  China  for  two  thousand  five  himdred  years  as  the  sign 
of  a  teacher ./' " 


268  THE  SPIRIT   OF   LOVE 

To  Senator  Hoar,  Worcester,  Mass. 

Gloucester,  England,  13-1-96. 

"  Some  weeks  ago,  I  sent  thee  a  volume  entitled 
*  Southern  Heroes.'  It  is  a  history  of  the  conduct  of 
members  of  the  Society  of  Friends  during  the  Civil  War. 

"  If  the  day  is  ever  to  come  when  the  sword  shall  be 
beaten  into  the  ploughshare  and  the  nations  learn  war  no 
more,  someone  must  make  the  beginning?  If  it  falls  to 
the  lot  of  '  Friends '  to  do  this,  even  if  they  do  not  succeed 
in  inducing  any  large  number  of  their  fellow-citizens  to 
follow  them,  they  may  at  least  increase  the  employment 
of  arbitration,  and  in  so  far  lessen  the  number  of  times 
blood  is  shed  in  settlement  of  quarrels  ?  I  know  it  is  an 
advanced  position  to  take,  and  that  it  demands  more  from 
the  spirit  of  love  and  sympathy  we  manifest,  than  from  the 
force  of  argument  we  can  bring  to  bear  in  support  of  it. 
The  two  should  go  hand  in  hand,  however.  I  find  it  a 
harder  task  to  overcome  my  own  hasty  temper  than  to 
advise  my  neighbour  to  curb  his  ;  yet  I  do  not  wish  to 
slacken  in  the  endeavour,  or  to  forget  that  greater  is  he 
that  overcometh  himself  than  he  that  taketh  a  city !  " 

To  Elisabeth  Putnam,  Boston,  U.S.A. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  i  7-2-1896. 

"  A  week  or  two  ago  we  mailed  to  thy  address  a  little 
book — of  which  we  beg  thy  acceptance — on  Carlyle's 
House,  which,  thanks  to  the  exertions  of  Reginald  Blunt, 
the  writer  of  the  book,  has  now  been  purchased  by  sub- 
scriptions and  turned  into  a  '  Carlyle  Museum.' 

"  I  have  no  doubt  that  many  of  our  visitors  from  your 
side  of  the  Atlantic  will  make  this  one  of  their  pilgrimages ; 
and  I  think  it  is  worth  sparing  a  few  hours  for.  Chelsea 
is  a  very  picturesque  part  of  London,  and  very  memory- 
laden  :  for  there  are  other  and  far  older  houses  than 
Carlyle's  that  will  attract  the  notice  of  the  visitor. 

"  Last  summer  it  was  the  fortune  of  my  wife  and 
myself  to  be  guests  in  a  house  that  stands  on  Chelsea 


CHELSEA  269 

Embankment,  overlooking  the  Carlyle  Monument.  Turner 
the  artist  had  lived  not  far  away ;  and  as  we  looked  from  our 
window  at  the  sunrise  over  the  broad  shining  Thames,  it 
was  easy  to  see  where  he  had  gained  his  idea  of  mist- 
effects  ;  for  it  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  anything  more 
beautiful  in  landscape  than  the  white  dazzling  cloud  that 
linked  something  to  nothing,  and  that  gently  turned  the 
crimson  and  gold  of  the  water  and  bridges  and  barges  in 
the  foreground  into  half  tones,  and  then  into  haze  and 
poetry  (and  all  poetry  depends  upon  that  which  is  m- 
definite  because  it  leaves  play  for  the  fancy!)  in  the 
distance. 

"  I  can  only  hope  that  if  thou  shouldst  again  come  and 
see  us,  and  take  Chelsea  in  thy  round  of  English  scenery, 
it  may  happen  to  be  under  the  same  atmospheric  conditions ; 
for  in  landscape  the  beauty  is  more  dependent  on  the 
transient  effects  than  on  the  permanent  material  that  serves 
as  their  basis. 

' '  I  ought  to  mention  that  the  German  Emperor  sent 
a  liberal  donation  towards  the  purchase  of  the  Carlyle 
House,  in  recognition  of  the  author  of  the  Life  of  Frederick 
the  Great.  *  *  *  It  could  not  but  be  a  sad  blow  to 
much  that  we  value,  if  England  and  Germany  were  to  go 
to  war— two  Protestant  Powers  weakening  each  other ; 
and  how  far  more  to  be  deplored  would  be  any  quarrel 
between  your  country  and  ours  !  I  cannot  describe  what 
it  would  mean  to  most  of  us  here— for  all  English  men  and 
women  who  have  any  knowledge  of  Americans  feel  a  far 
stronger  drawing  to  them  than  to  any  other  people. 

"It  is  in  the  Divine  ordering  of  Nature  that  all  wounds 
heal  with  time  ;  and  especially  is  this  the  case  with  feuds 
between  nations.  Look  at  Ireland  for  instance.  The 
Roman  Catholic  priests  never  weary  of  reminding  their 
people  of  Cromwell's  cruelties  in  conquering  them.  A 
very  bitter  historian  who  takes  this  line  closes  his  chapter 
on  Cromwell  by  remarking  that  he  failed,  after  all,  of  his 


270        FAITHFULNESS   IN  SMALL  THINGS 

purpose ;  for,  40  years  after  his  campaign  in  Ireland,  the 
descendants  of  his  soldiers  could  not  speak  a  word  of 
English,  because  the  soldiers  had  married  the  daughters 
of  the  Irish  peasants  whom  they  conquered,  and  whose 
lands  they  stole !  Precisely  so.  But  what  does  this 
mean?  It  means  that  the  very  people  who  cry  out  so 
bitterly  against  Cromwell's  soldiers  are  the  descendants  of 
those  soldiers  as  well  as  of  the  despoiled  peasants.  And 
this  is,  in  the  end,  the  story  of  most  national  wrongs  ! 
Here  in  Britain  we  are  descended  alike  from  the  Roman 
taskmaster  and  the  Celtic  slave— from  the  Saxon  serf  and 
his  Norman  lord.  The  waves  that  beat  on  the  Ocean  of 
Time  round  off  all  the  shingle  on  its  shore  ;  and  the  sharp 
split  stone  becomes  the  smooth  shining  pebble." 

To  his  daughter  Katharine. 

Friends'  Institute,  London,  27-5-96. 

"  I  have  read  what  Mother  has  just  written  thee :  which 
exactly  conveys  my  own  thoughts  of  thee. 

"  Recollect  that  our  Heavenly  Father  is  most  glorified 
by  our  using  little  light,  and  clinging  close  to  a  little  faith. 
The  smallness  of  it,  in  seeming,  is  as  nothing.  This  is 
shown  clearly  by  the  parable  of  the  grain  of  mustard  seed 
— *the  least  of  all  seeds' — yet  how  mighty  is  its  effect, 
finally ! 

"  To  feel  little,  and  yet  to  desire  earnestly  to  he  faithful 
to  that  little,  is  indeed  well-pleasing  to  God.  Perhaps  all 
that  we  can  do  is  to  keep  trying  to  believe  in  His  goodness 
and  kindness.  If  it  is,  then  this  is  all  that  is  required  of 
us.  A  thousand  years  in  the  sight  of  the  Almighty  are  but 
as  yesterday  when  it  is  past ;  and  He  knows  how  swiftly 
the  now  that  tries  us  becomes  the  past  in  which  the  trial 
is  for  ever  passed  away,  but  has  left  behind  it  the  solid, 
quiet,  everlasting  fruit  of  righteousness.  Every  great 
trial  helps  this  lasting  gain  ;  and  every  tiny  trial,  rightly 
borne,  helps  it  too." 


LETTER  TO   CHIEF  JUSTICE  HOLMES      271 

To  Chief  Justice  Holmes*  Boston,  U.S.A. 

Gloucester,  10-8- 1896. 
"It  is  a  disappointment  that  we  shall  not  be  able  to 
show  thee  some  of  our  beautiful  Cotteswold  scenery 
before  thy  return ;  but  I  know  how  time  steals  upon  one 
in  so  short  a  visit  as  thine  is  to  England,  and  we  can 
but  hope  that  before  long  thou  mayst  again  come  over  to 
the  Old  Country  with  a  little  more  leisure ! 

"As  it  is,  however,  not  possible  for  thee  to  come  here 
now,  I  send  with  this  one  or  two  little  things  I  had  put  by 
to  hand  to  thee  : 

"  I.  An  electrotyped  copy  of  a  medal  struck  by 
Pope  Alexander  VI.,  I  believe  in  the  year  1500, 
showing  him  at  the  head  of  a  body  of  Bishops,  open- 
ing the  gate  of  Purgatory  and  letting  the  souls  there 
escape ! 

"2.  Copy  of  a  medal  (unfortunately  much  cor- 
roded) found  in  digging  a  few  feet  below  the  London 
Road,  Gloucester,  and  struck  as  a  '  Portrait  medal '  of 
Francis  I.  when  a  lad  of  ten  years  of  age.  The  date 
would  be  four  years  later  than  the  Borgia  medal 
above  mentioned,  i.e.,  1504. 

"3.  Specimens  of  the  common  Roman  coins  of  the 
Constantine  period  found  in  this  neighbourhood. 
"  The  *  Haresfield '  find  was  a  singular  one.  About  60 
years  ago  the  property  belonged  to  a  family  named  Niblett, 
one  of  whom,  John  N.,  was  a  good  antiquary,  whom  I 
knew  well  some  years  after  the  date  I  mention.  He  told 
me  that  at  that  time,  say  about  1830-40,  his  brother  came 
home  from  Oxford  fired  with  a  zeal  for  Roman  antiquities, 
and  said  to  him  one  morning,  '  John,  let  us  take  a  spade 
each  and  go  and  dig  on  the  Camp  to  see  what  we  can  turn 
up.'  *  Oh  you  may  dig  your  life  out  and  never  find  any- 
thing ! '  was  the  response.     The  brother  had  his  way, 

*  A  son  of  the  late  Dr  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  and  now  a  Judge 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 


272       THE  ROMANS  AT  LYDNEY 

however;  and  in  an  hour  or  so  they  struck  off  (as  it 
afterwards  proved)  the  shoulder  of  a  pot  containing  3000  of 
the  coins,  of  which  these  r,re  two.  The  four  lower  ones  are 
coins  of  the  same  era  (Constantine's)  found  within  the  past 
twelvemonth  at  Bishopswood,  near  Ross  :  part  of  a  lot  of 
between  16,000  and  17,000  :  the  largest,  in  one  heap,  ever 
found  in  the  world,  so  far  as  I  am  aware. 

"4.     A  few  tesserce  from  Lydney  Park.     Close  by 
this  spot,  where  rabbits  had  thrown  them  out,  are  the 
remains  of  an  important  Temple  overlooking  the  mile- 
wide  Severn.     Quite  a  museum  is  preserved  in  the 
mansion  of  Charles  Bathurst,   at  Lydney  Park,   of 
these  remains.     Among  the  rest  are  some  thin  metal 
letters  that  had  been  fastened  by  pins  to  the  stone 
fa9ade   of   the   temple —  NODENS  —  probably  the 
name  of  the  god  to  whom  it  was  erected.     Noddyns 
would  be,  in  Celtic,  the  Abyss,  or  Deep— z.^.,  the  God 
of  the  Deep. 
"Such  temples  were  also  health  resorts— and  a  more 
lovely  spot  for  the  site  of  such  an  establishment  could 
hardly  be  imagined :  wooded  hills,  green  lawns  and  pas- 
tures,  the  lake-like  river,   and  exquisite  lines   of  blue 
mountain  scenery  beyond  it,   must  have  tempted  many 
a  wealthy  Roman  and  Briton  to  Lydney. 

"  Suddenly  all  this  was  destroyed  :  how  we  know  not ; 
but  the  evidence  is  the  burying  of  a  quantity  of  silver  coin 
in  one  of  the  Roman  iron  mines  close  by,  under  a  large 
mass  of  rock.  In  1854  they  were  making  a  tramway 
along  the  mine,  which  was  being  re-worked,  when  the 
rock  impeded  their  progress.  It  was  too  heavy  to  move, 
so  they  blasted  it— and  underneath  lay  the  denarii  of 
Nerva,  Hadrian,  Antoninus  Pius,  and  so  on — one,  of 
Hadrian's,  the  most  beautiful  face  I  have  ever  seen  on 
any  coin,  ancient  or  modern  ! 

"  We  have  archaeological  evidence  that  after  this  sud- 
den abandonment  of  Lydney  Park  Mine,  the  Romans  never 
returned  to  it !  " 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

RELIEF-WORK   IN    BULGARIA   AND    CONSTANTINOPLE 

THE  letters  in  this  chapter  briefly  describe  the  journey 
taken  by  John  Bellows  and  his  wife  to  Constantinople 
in  November,  1896,  for  the  relief  of  helpless  survivors  of 
the  Armenian  massacres.  They  travelled  overland  to 
Varna,  accompanied  by  a  Friend,  James  Adams,  whose 
object  was  to  start  workshops  in  that  town  in  order  to  give 
employment  to  refugee  artisans.  In  these  workshops 
articles  for  domestic  use,  in  wood  and  metal,  were  manu- 
factured ;  and  these,  together  with  embroideries  made  by 
the  women,  were  eventually  sent  to  England,  or  elsewhere, 
for  sale.  After  a  fortnight  spent  in  relief  work  at  Varna, 
John  Bellows  and  his  wife  continued  their  journey,  by  sea, 
to  Constantinople. 

To  the  Clerk  of  the  Friends^  Armenian  Relief  Committee 
(Dr  Hingston  Fox,  London.) 

RusTCHUCK,  Bulgaria,  4-12-1896. 

*' Although  we  have  travelled  as  fast  as  circumstances 
would  allow,  it  has  taken  us  till  now  to  reach  this  point ; 
that  is,  from  Fourth-day  night,  last  week,  from  London, 
to  Sixth-day  here  on  the  southern  bank  of  the  Danube. 
Thou  art  aware  that  we  had  to  change  our  route  in  con- 
sequence of  floods  barring  the  line  in  Servia,  and  come  to 
Bucharest  instead  of  to  Belgrade. 

"Yesterday  morning  [at  Bucharest]  we  took  an  Inter- 
preter and  called  on  an  Armenian  priest  in  the  city,  from 
whom  we   obtained  an  outline   of   the    position   of  the 
refugees  on  this  side  of  the  Black  Sea.     In  the  afternoon 
R 


274  BUCHAREST 

he  came  to  us  at  the  HOtel  Bristol,  with  another  Armenian 
of  good  standing  in  Bucharest ;  and  conversation  with  them 
gave  us  many  further  details.  The  Roumanian  authorities 
have  forbidden  Armenian  exiles  from  entering  their 
territory ;  but  a  few  have  passed  over  the  frontier,  who 
have  met  with  help  and  sympathy  from  their  compatriots. 

"One  excellent  man,  not  an  Armenian,  who  keeps  a 
large  inn,  has  sheltered  fifteen  refugees,  first  and  last ; 
and  our  visitors  took  us  to  the  house,  to  see  a  poor  blind 
doctor  from  Constantinople,  who  escaped  the  massacre  by 
the  kind  aid  of  a  Christian  Turk.  The  inn,  we  found,  was 
one  of  those  large  Khans  one  often  sees  in  the  East,  with 
two  courtyards,  beautiful  old  overhanging  roofs,  open 
corridors  with  wooden  balustrades,  and  outside  flights  of 
steps.  At  the  moment  we  got  to  the  old  doctor's  room, 
which  is  given  him  gratuitously  by  the  kind  landlord,  we 
found  that  he  and  his  child  were  out;  but  we  gathered 
some  details  of  the  rest  of  the  family,  left  behind  in 
Constantinople,  which  may  possibly  enable  us  to  be  of  use 
to  them.  We  could  not  wait  the  return  of  the  poor  doctor, 
for  it  was  after  five,  and  we  had  to  go  back  to  the  hotel 
and  start  for  the  station,  which  is  a  long  way  from  it,  to 
come  on  to  Giurgiu  (or  as  the  Bulgarians  call  it,  Giurgevo) 
two  hours'  run  from  Bucharest,  and  the  crossing-place 
for  Rustchuck. 

"  This  morning  we  were  roused  soon  after  six,  to  get 
breakfast  over  in  time  for  the  first  steamer,  which  leaves 
at  eight.  The  passage  usually  takes  forty  minutes  from 
bank  to  bank  of  the  Danube ;  but  the  hard  Russian-like 
winter  is  setting  in,  and  the  boat  had  to  break  its  way 
through  a  mile  of  two-inch  ice  before  it  got  into  the  clear 
river:  and  it  was  nine  o'clock  before  we  landed.  The 
stream  may  at  any  moment  be  stopped  by  ice  now ;  and 
as  soon  as  this  occurs,  all  traffic  will  be  by  sledge. 

"  Things  are  rough— one  cannot  say  rough  and  ready— 
in  this   corner  of  Europe ;  and  we  are  stopped  on  the 


ARMENIANS  AT   RUSTCHUCK  275 

landing  plank  to  give  up  our  passports,  which  we  are  told 
shall  be  returned  to  us  during  the  day !  Then  comes  the 
customs  examination :  not  on  the  counter  of  a  Zollhaus — 
for  the  doiiane  here  is  the  shingle  and  dried  mud  of  the 
river  strand,  on  which  our  baggage  has  to  be  unpacked. 
They  were  not  very  exacting  however,  and  we  were  soon 
under  a  roof,  and  warm  again  after  the  bitter  cold  of  the 
river  passage. 

"  The  Armenian  visitors  of  whom  I  spoke  at  Bucharest, 
gave  us  an  introduction  to  the  committee  in  Rustchuck, 
and  we  were  soon  in  communication  with  two  or  three  of 
the  members  here.  This  committee  is  evidently  composed 
of  good  business  men,  who  have  exercised  great  care  and 
skill  in  dealing  with  the  diflSiCult  problem  of  the  large 
immigration  of  Armenians  into  this  town.  Already,  they 
have  been  able  to  get  a  large  nimiber  of  refugees  into 
employment,  but  as  the  need  is  still  pressing  in  this 
direction,  we  got  three  of  the  Relief  Committee  to  come 
with  an  interpreter  to  the  hotel  this  afternoon,  and  go 
carefully  through  the  statistics  with  us.  After  putting 
down  every  item  needed  to  start  the  looms,  the  tailors, 
shoe  makers,  bakers,  etc.,  on  the  most  modest  scale 
possible,  we  find  ;£i6o  is  needed:  and  making  deductions 
for  the  amounts  promised  by  the  Duke  of  Westminster's 
fimd,  the  whole  burden  on  the  local  committee  will  still 
be  so  serious,  that  we  are  satisfied  that  Friends  in 
England  would  wish  to  contribute  ;£i6o  towards  the 
objects  I  have  above  outlined. 

"  Besides  the  numbers  of  refugees  who  are  quartered  in 
private  lodgings,  and  in  larger  groups  elsewhere,  there  is 
a  theatre  in  the  higher  part  of  the  town,  which  the 
committee  have  temporarily  rented  to  shelter  some  fifty 
families.  James  Adams  found  out  this  place,  this  morning ; 
and  at  middle  day  we  all  went  there.  It  was  a  singular 
and  a  very  touching  sight.  I  hope  there  are  not  many 
Friends  who  are  familiar  with  the  inside  of  a  theatre  ;  but 

R2 


276  REFUGEES   IN  A  THEATRE 

one  has  an  idea  from  pictures,  that  it  is  a  luxuriously 
fitted-up  building,  with  plenty  of  decoration  and  gilding. 
The  English  reader  who  would  form  a  true  idea  of  the 
theatre  in  which  the  Armenian  refugees  are  living  at 
Rustchuck,  must  make  a  clean  sweep  of  all  this,  and 
imagine  in  place  of  it,  a  building  of  eighty  or  a  hundred 
feet  long,  by  perhaps  fifty  wide,  with  three  tiers  of  boxes, 
or  rather,  two  tiers  of  boxes  with  a  gallery  above,  all  of 
rough  unpainted  deal,  and  with  no  more  ornament  than  a 
stack  of  Dacking  cases. 

"We  pick  our  way  over  the  ice  that  covers  the  rough 
ground,  to  the  door,  and  go  up  the  clumsy  wooden  stairs 
on  our  right.  On  the  landing  is  the  beginning  of  a  long 
corridor  leading  to  the  back  of  the  dress-circle,  as  I  am 
told  is  the  technical  term  for  it.  A  matronly  Armenian 
woman  who  lodges  in  the  first  box,  courteously  invites  us 
to  make  use  of  it.  In  spite  of  the  miserable  surroundings, 
she  has  managed  to  make  it  really  neat,  with  a  rug  on  the 
floor  ;  and  scarcely  have  we  set  foot  in  it  before  two  chairs 
and  a  box  are  passed  in  behind  us  by  as  many  men,  on 
which  we  seat  ourselves.  On  the  floor  below  are  motley 
groups  of  men,  women,  and  children,  eagerly  but  re- 
spectfully scanning  the  foreign  visitors.  Behind  these 
groups  are  beds,  on  the  floor.  In  one  lies  a  woman, 
seemingly  very  ill.  Above  her  head,  along  several  of  the 
boxes,  level  with  the  one  in  which  we  are,  hang  clothes 
lines,  with  the  linen  of  three  or  four  families  drying  in  the 
heat  of  the  iron  stove-pipe  that  runs  horizontally  past  them. 
Four  families  are  quartered  on  the  stage,  and  little  mites 
of  children  are  performing  there,  for  their  own  benefit, 
oblivious  of  the  sadness  around  them  ;  while  some  bigger 
boys  have  heaved  up  a  hatch  in  front  of  the  painted  scene, 
and  are  in  a  hollow  below,  throwing  up  blocks  of  fire- 
wood for  the  stove.  Several  little  charcoal  fires  are 
burning  in  different  parts — for  cooking. 


RUSTCHUCK  TO  VARNA  277 

"As  we  withdraw,  we  offer  our  hands  to  those  who 
happen  to  be  near,  and  they  eagerly  crowd  round  to 
shake  them,  in  appreciation  of  the  sympathy  shown  them. 
I  got  out  quickly ;  but  numbers  of  little  children  pressed 
round  my  wife,  kissing  her  hand  —  then  laying  their 
foreheads  on  it — and  kissing  it  again.  A  good  many  of 
these  are  orphans  from  Constantinople. 

"  The  Bulgarian  Government  has  shown  great  sympathy 
with  these  poor  people  :  giving  them  bread,  up  to  the  end 
of  the  present  month— and  free  passage  on  the  railways, 
so  as  to  get  them  distributed  inland,  instead  of  dangerously 
overcrowding  the  coast  towns.  It  has  turned  out  well, 
after  all,  that  we  could  not  get  through  to  Varna  to-day. 
The  bitter  winter  is  coming  on,  and  every  day  makes  a 
difference  in  preparing  for  it.  Now  we  shall  look  forward 
to  a  goodly  number  of  men  being  at  work,  even  in  a  week, 
instead  of  going  on  weighting  the  relief  funds  that  are  so 
much  needed  by  others. 

"  The  only  train  in  the  day  to  Varna  is  at  7.30  a.m. — 
and  we  hope  to  go  by  it  to-morrow,  so  as  to  be  there  on 
First-day." 

To  his  Children. 

Line  between  Rustchuck  and  Varna, 

5- I 2- I 896. 

"  For  a  good  many  miles  the  country  on  which  we 
emerged  after  leaving  Rustchuck  is  a  gently  undulating 
p^in — very  bare ;  but  later  on  it  became  decidedly  acci- 
dent., and  forests  were  frequent,  especially  of  young  oak. 
Single  trees  stand  in  the  open  or  cultivated  land  ;  and  the 
Christ-thorn  covers  all  waste  spots  more  or  less  thickly,  as 
it  does  in  the  Caucasus ;  but  it  does  not  usually  attain  such 
a  size. 

'*  Gradually  we  have  more  and  more  hills,  and  higher 
hills.  We  are  now  in  a  limestone  country  with  frequent 
white  scars  or  cliffs.  The  dips  or  basins  we  look  down 
into,  as  the  line  keeps  a  good  deal  on  high  table-land,  are 


278  BULGARIAN  SCENERY 

many  of  them  very  picturesque — houses  rare  ;  but  where 
villages  do  occur,  they  are  either  made  up  of  long  hayrick- 
looking  habitations 


I  rather  think  the  first  is  Bulgarian  and  the  second  Turkish. 
One  can  trace  back  the  evolution  of  these  two  forms — for 
the  Bulgars  came  from  the  Volga,  (Bulgar  =  Volgar)  and 
the  house  is  like  a  Russian  one.  The  Turk  is  an  Asiatic— 
originally  Mongol   or  Chinese  —  and  this  is  more  like 

the  Chinese  form  than  the  haystack  is. 

Provadya. 

"  The  country  has  now  changed  much  :  many  vineyards 

on  the  hillsides,  as  at  Riidesheim,  etc.  Numbers  of  covered 

trucks  on  the  line  have  been  built  for  grain  only.     They 

are  loaded  from  the  top,  and  discharged  through  a  small 

iron  door  sliding  perpendicularly. 

Varna, 
*'  We  arrived  an  hour  late,  after  passing  through  miles 
and  miles  of  marshy  flat,  between  lines  of  limestone  hills. 
Hundreds  of  acres  of  beautiful  bulrushes  ten  or  twelve 
feet  high,  like  a  jungle.  In  some  places  they  were  cut,  for 
matting,  thatching,  and  so  on ;  and  in  two  spots  they  had 
been  set  on  fire,  making  a  grand  effect  in  the  fading  even- 
ing light.  At  about  half-past  five  we  entered  the  terminds. 
James  Adams  jumped  down  to  look  for  a  porter,  when 
a  young  Armenian,  who  had  just  come  from  England, 
stepped  up  to  us  and  told  us  the  committee  at  Rustchuck 
had  telegraphed  him  to  meet  and  see  us  to  the  hotel ;  so 
all  was  made  easy  in  a  moment." 

To  his  daughter  Katharine. 

Hotel  Imperial,  Varna,  10-12-1896. 
"  The  best  streets  here  are  nicely  paved,  but  the  back 
ones  are  like  nothing  we  have  in  England— no  two  stones 


VARNA  279 

level  — and  here  and  there  pits  and  puddles  and  pools 
where  all  the  big  stones  have  been  taken  away.  A  crowd 
of  people  fill  some  corners :  Armenians  selling  oranges 
and  lemons  and  nuts :  Turks  with  their  turbans :  Bulgarians, 
Greeks,  Tartars:  women  with  veils  up  to  their  noses, 
carrying  water  in  tins  like  big  biscuit  tins,  only  twice  as 
deep :  lots  of  two-horse  phaetons ;  horses  not  much  bigger 
than  ponies,  and  with  red  woollen  ornaments  on  their 
foreheads :  flocks  of  geese  and  turkeys  being  driven  along 
the  streets :  boys  carrying  fowls  by  the  feet :  wagons  of 
firewood  drawn  by  oxen  and  buffaloes :  coffee  houses  with 
little  projecting  balconies  over  the  door,  and  Turks  sitting 
in  them  drinking  tiny  cups  of  black  coffee :  good  shops  in 
the  main  street,  something  like  our  second-best  ones,  but 
such  queer  little  places  in  some  of  the  back  ones !  A  man 
seems  to  get  four  or  five  big  packing  cases  and  knock  out 
the  boards,  and  then  he  drives  some  stakes  into  the  ground 
and  nails  the  whole  into  a  big  box,  not  higher  than  Dorothy 
could  stand  up  in,  with  her  head  touching  the  top.  He 
covers  it  all  with  some  bits  of  black  tarred  canvas,  or 
American  cloth,  and  puts  a  window  in  one  end,  three 
times  the  size  of  this  card, — and  then  he  is  ready  to  start 
with  any  small  wares  he  wants  to  sell ! 

"  Mother  is  going  over  to  the  other  side  of  the  bay  to 
teach  mat-making  to  some  Armenians,  so  I  must  close." 

To  his  daughter  Hannah. 

Hotel  Imperial,  Varna,  15- 12- 1896. 
"  We  were  both  measured  for  boots  this  morning  by  an 
Armenian  shoemaker  refugee.  He  does  beautiful  work. 
We  started  him  with  leather  and  tools,  and  he  made  the 
first  pair  yesterday  for  James  Adams.  *  Why  don't  you 
smile  ? '  said  J.  A.  as  he  spoke  a  few  cheery  words  to  him 
in  launching  the  business.  '  I  have  no  smiles  left,'  was 
the  reply.  '  I  saw  my  brother  torn  to  pieces  in  Constan- 
tinople by  the  Turks,  when  I  made  my  escape,  and  I 


28o  BUYING  WOOL 

cannot  smile  now.'  *  *  *  For  five  days  we  have 
struggled  to  buy  some  wool  to  set  the  women  at  work  who 
have  not  sewing ;  but  in  vain,  we  first  call  on  a  firm 
of  merchants  to  ask  what  is  the  best  shop  for  wool.  They 
are  very  kind  and  offer  us  coffee  ;  but  we  only  want  this 
one  indication.  Then  they  tell  us  that '  demain '  they  will 
'  nous  envoy er  un  homme  qui  connatt  le  metier.'  Demain 
happens  to  be  Seventh-day,  and  a  message  comes  at  six 
o'clock  at  night  that  the  dealer  who  has  the  wool  is  a  Jew ; 
that  it  is  his  Sabbath,  and  he  can  sell  nothing.  But  he 
sends  us  a  sample  and  price — two  napoleons  a  kilo  !  At 
the  same  time  he  tells  us  that  there  are  but  two  kilos 
in  Varna.  On  Second-day  comes  a  further  message— that 
the  price  was  wrong ;  that  it  was  so  high  that  our  messen- 
ger himself  quoted  us  only  half  of  what  the  Jew  asked ; 
and  the  last  thing  we  have  heard  is  that  there  is  but  a 
kilo  et  demiy  and  it  is  worth  eight  Hras  a  kilo.  A  lira 
is  i8s6d!" 

To  the  Clerk  of  the  Friends'  Armenian  Relief  Committee 
(Dr.  Hingston  Fox,  London) 

Varna,  15- 12- 1896. 

"We  have  written  to  Alexandria,  to  make  quite  sure 
the  opening  there  is  sufficiently  good  to  justify  the  men 
being  sent,  in  case  we  get  your  assent  to  the  proposal  to 
emigrate  them,  and  thus  disburden  the  relief  fund  for  the 
rest  of  the  winter  by  so  many  mouths.  A  suggestion  has 
come  from  Marseilles  that  some  might  be  provided  for 
with  work,  etc.,  at  Tunis ;  but  the  Armenians  all  have  a 
great  clinging  to  their  own  land,  and  shrink  from  getting 
very  far  away  from  it :  as  they  still  hope  the  times  may  so 
far  change  as  to  enable  them  to  go  back  to  Anatolia. 

"We  have  made  an  earnest  endeavour  to  get  employ- 
ment for  some  of  the  women  for  whom  there  is  no 
needlework  ;  but  the  difficulties  are  all  but  incredible.  I 
have  myself  been  this  afternoon  from  shop  to  shop  for 
large  knitting  needles  (used  in  knitting  foundation  of  rugs, 


MAT  MAKING  281 

etc.,  in  coarse  cotton.)  After  exhausting  every  chance  of 
needles,  in  vain,  we  found  some  stout  brass  wire  in  the 
bazaar,  and  then  took  it  to  a  stove-maker  who  beat  it 
straight  and  filed  the  ends  sufficiently  to  do  the  work. 

"Great  effort  has  been  made,  too,  to  get  some  bits  of 
cloth,  or  waste  cuttings,  to  work  up  into  such  mats  ;  but 
the  quantity  obtained,  after  hours  of  endeavour,  is  too 
small  to  last  beyond  this  evening.  If  an  appeal  were  made 
in  '  The  Friend,'  or  other  paper,  for  clean  woollen  cuttings 
(either  of  dress-pieces  or  cloth)  it  would  bring  some 
response :  and  30  or  40  lbs.  could  be  sent  by  Parcel  Post, 
at,  I  suppose,  a  total  cost  of  less  than  a  sovereign  ?  This 
would  start  a  few  hands  with  work  that  could  be  sold  so  as 
to  recoup  at  least  a  good  part  of  the  outlay  ;  while  it  would 
lessen  the  strain  on  the  relief  fund  by  the  wages  given. 

*'  My  wife  and  I  expected  to  sail  to-night  for  Constanti- 
nople, but  the  steamer,  like  everything  else,  is  '  late.'  We 
had  to  meet  the  train  this  evening  in  hope  of  getting  some 
missing  luggage.  There  is  but  one  train  a  day :  due  at 
4.30,  but  always  'late.'  At  a  quarter  before  5  some  cabs 
(two-horse  phaetons,  etc.)  drove  leisurely  up  to  be  ready 
for  it :  some  of  the  drivers  settling  off  for,  I  suppose,  half 
or  three-quarters  of  an  hour's  nap  to  fill  up  the  interval. 
By  some  unusual  occurrence,  the  train  arrived  only  thirty- 
five  minutes  late  however  :  but  the  porters  told  us  it  was 
better  to  let  the  baggage  be  till  daylight  tomorrow. 
'  Daylight '  they  first  fixed  to  mean  ten  o'clock— but  after- 
wards they  said — eleven  ! 

"  It  is  a  very  good  place  for  disciplining  impatience !  I 
am  bound  to  say  coming  to  Varna  has  made  me  feel 
smaller  than  when  I  left  home." 

To  Chief  Justice  Holmes,  Boston,  U.S.A. 

Constantinople,  21-12-1896. 
"  If  thy  father  had  lived  long  enough  to  hear  of  the 
tragic  events  of  the  last  twelve  or  fourteen  months  in  this 
part  of  the  world,  few  men  would,  I  believe,  have  had 


282  THE  RELIEF  FUNDS 

a  more  vigorous  '  say '  with  regard  to  them,  as  the  outcome 
of  the  keen  interest  he  would  have  taken  in  the  recrudes- 
cence of  Mussulman  persecution  against  the  Christian 
population  of  the  Ottoman  Empire.  And  this  not  only  as 
a  man  of  unusual  breadth  of  sympathy,  but  as  an  American 
citizen ;  for  it  is  to  the  American  missionaries  in  Anatolia, 
more  than  to  any  other  force,  that  the  Armenian  people  owe 
the  shaping  of  their  present  culture,  and  will  owe  the  power 
they  must  exercise  over  Western  Asia  in  the  future  ;  and  it 
is  to  the  presence  of  American  missionaries  in  Urfa,  Diar- 
bekir,  Sivas,  Van,  and  other  centres,  that  vast  numbers  of 
them  are  indebted  at  this  moment  for  the  preservation 
of  their  lives. 

"  Early  in  this  year  several  of  these  stations  were 
visited  by  Rendel  Harris,  of  Cambridge  (Eng.)  and  his 
wife,  and  from  the  reports  they  sent  to  England  of  the 
suffering  with  which  your  countrymen  and  countrywomen 
were  energetically  endeavouring  to  cope,  so  much  sym- 
pathy was  aroused  in  the  Society  of  Friends  (of  which 
R.  H.  is  a  member,)  that  a  fund  was  at  once  raised  for 
Armenian  Relief,  in  addition  to  that  already  started  by  the 
Duke  of  Westminster,  and  another  by  a  Ladies'  Associa- 
tion in  London.  I  was  asked  to  become  one  of  the  execu- 
tive committee  of  this  Fund ;  and  for  several  months  the 
attendance  on  it  has  taken  me  to  London  every  two  or 
three  weeks. 

'*  Just  about  the  time  of  thy  leaving  England,  as  thou 
wilt  remember,  the  whole  world  was  horror-stricken  at 
the  great  massacre  of  Armenians  by  the  lowest  of  the 
Mahometan  population  of  this  city  of  Constantinople.  Con- 
sequent on  this  was  a  flight  of  many  thousand  Armenian 
refugees  to  all  places  within  easy  reach  of  Turkey,  but 
outside  the  frontier :  more  especially  to  Varna,  in  Bulgaria, 
which  lies  within  a  couple  of  days'  sail  of  Constantinople. 

"  Our  Committee,  however,  felt  the  responsibility  of  its 
trust  with  such  sums  of  money  as  came  in ;  and  it  was 


BUDAPEST  283 

deemed  necessary  to  send  some  capable  man  over,  to 
arrange  for  the  economical  and  prompt  application  of  the 
funds  granted  for  the  relief  work.  On  enquiry  we  were 
recommended  to  ask  a  Friend  named  Adams,  from  Harro- 
gate, to  undertake  this  task  for  Varna.  He  willingly 
assented  to  the  call.  At  the  same  time  there  were  other 
points  that  needed  looking  after,  including  Constantinople, 
and  my  wife  and  I  have  offered  to  come  out  at  our 
own  cost ;  for  it  is  not  permitted  to  use  any  fraction  of 
the  Friends'  Fund  for  *  expenses : '  these  being  contributed 
specially,  separately. 

"  We  started  from  London  with  our  friend  Adams  three 
weeks  ago,  intending  to  travel  together  to  Belgrade,  when 
he  would  go  on  by  Bucharest  to  Varna,  while  we  took  the 
rail  to  Philippopolis,  Adrianople  and  Constantinople.  But 
at  Budapest  we  learned  that  floods  had  stopped  the  traffic 
near  Sofia  ;  so  that  we  had  all  to  go  via  Varna.  Though 
we  went  on  as  quickly  as  circumstances  would  permit, 
the  loss  of  our  baggage  compelled  us  to  stay  three  days 
at  Budapest,  giving  an  opportunity  for  a  rapid  glance 
at  what  I  am  bound  to  regard  as  the  most  striking  town  in 
Europe.  This  is  the  more  remarkable,  as  the  Huns  are 
a  people  of  such  distinctively  Asiatic  origin;  yet  here, 
within  the  last  18  or  20  years,  they  have  almost  rebuilt 
their  city,  at  a  cost  of  millions  of  pounds  sterling  :  cutting 
new  and  splendid  streets  through  primeval  forests  of 
'slums'— with  tramways  above,  and  a  beautiful  electric 
railroad  below  ;  grand  iron  suspension-bridges  over  the 
Danube  ;  a  new  Palais  de  Justice  only  opened  six  weeks 
before  our  visit,  as  handsome  as  any  building  in  Paris ; 
new  Houses  of  Parliament  opened  while  we  were  there  ; 
new  Schools  of  Art ;  new  Royal  Palace  :  a  new  Cathedral 
—and  more ! 

"  The  hotel  we  were  fortunate  enough  to  stay  at  was 
opened  last  spring,  and  by  comparison,  after  some  of  the 
Eastern  European  ones  reeking  with  smells  that  link  one 


284  ROUMANIAN  LANGUAGE 

to  the  middle  ages,  it  seems  like  a  palace  of  Aladdin ! 
If  any  of  thy  friends  in  Boston  are  making  a  tour  to 
Europe,  send  them  for  rest  and  comfort  to  Budapest,  to 
the  Hotel  Royal !  And  if  they  are  millionaires  let  them 
ask  for  the  suite  of  apartments  in  which  the  Duke  of 
Connaught  stayed ! 

"We  are  not  millionaires  however,  and  travelled  in 
more  humble  style  through  the  beautiful  Carpathian 
mountains,  with  the  snow  on  the  pines.  A  map  does 
not  always  make  clear  the  physical  aspect  of  the  countries 
it  delineates,  or  one  would  realize  at  once  that  what  we 
call  the  Carpathians  and  Balkans  are  really  one  serpentine 
chain  both  north  and  south  of  the  Danube,  and  the  cele- 
brated '  Iron  Gates '  on  this  river  are  the  cliffs  where 
it  cuts  this  chain.  The  whole  is  a  broad  S  turned  back- 
ward, beginning  near  Vienna. 

"  Bucharest  is  another  town  in  the  transition  stage,  with 
a  very  striking  new"  Palais  de  Justice.  Some  of  the  hotels 
are  still  miserable.  But  one  thing  about  the  place  is  very 
interesting— the  language.  The  Romans  put  a  colony  in 
Wallachia,  which  I  suppose  got  pretty  much  cut  off  from 
the  mother  country  by  the  time  of  Aurelian  ;  yet  it  must 
have  held  its  own,  in  isolation,  for  the  people  still  speak  an 
Italian  dialect,  and  very  charming  it  is  in  its  rhythm. 
True,  they  make  some  of  their  s's  into  sh,  so  that  they  call 
their  city  Bukar^s/?^  to  the  ear  ;  but  it  took  one  by  surprise 
in  this  Eastern  corner  of  Europe  to  see  up  at  a  street 
corner  STRADA  SEMILUNA,  and  to  have  to  ask  the 
servant  at  the  hotel  for  '  apa  calda '  when  we  wanted  hot 
water.  Here  on  board  the  Austro- Italian  steamer  in 
whose  cabin  I  am  writing,  I  have  to  say  '  acqM2i  calda ' ; 
but  both  here  and  at  Bucharest,  if  I  ask  for  '  luminare,* 
they  bring  me  candles  ! 

"  Trajan  built  a  wall  across  from  the  Danube  (where  it 
makes  its  sudden  bend  to  the  north)  to  Kustendje,  which  is 
the  Turkish  alteration  of  Constantia  :  and  I  have  no  doubt 


*  GAVASH ! '  285 

that  it  was  having  this  wall,  then  just  built,  in  his  mind, 
that  suggested  the  idea  to  Hadrian  of  making  the  one  from 
Newcastle  to  Carlisle,  of  which  we  still  have  such  remark- 
able remains.  Both  are  about  the  same  length— some  70 
miles.  And  mention  of  Hadrian  reminds  me  that  last  week 
at  Varna,  a  gipsy  was  shown  into  our  room  (or  came  in 
without  being  shown)— a  dark,  mischievous-looking  fellow, 
who,  after  bowing  and  scraping  an  introduction,  pulled 
out  a  bag  from  his  pocket  and  poured  a  lot  of  Roman  coins 
on  the  table.  Several  were  of  later  Emperors,  but  one 
was  a  good  denarius  of  Hadrian.  He  watched  my  inter- 
ested look,  and  demanded  ten  francs  for  it ;  but  as  this 
is  much  beyond  its  value,  I  offered  him  two.  He  said 
three,  when  I  turned  away  ;  and  at  this  moment  our 
Roumanian  chambermaid  came  in,  and  in  Turkish  ordered 
him  out  of  the  house.  It  was  a  sight  to  see  his  blood 
moimt  to  his  cheeks !  I  should  not  have  been  in  the  least 
surprised  to  see  him  draw  his  knife  upon  her:  and  the 
only  word  I  knew  that  might  tend  to  allay  the  storm  was 
Gavash  I  (Gently  ;  slowly.  I  had  learnt  it  that  morning, 
for  using  to  moderate  a  Turk  driving  a  carriage.)  I  think 
it  helped  a  little,  but  the  fellow  was  not  calm  as  he  left  the 
house ! 

"  But  to  return  to  the  journey.  Leaving  Bucharest  we 
got  late  in  the  evening  to  Giurgevo,  on  the  Danube : 
crossing  the  river  next  morning  in  the  stinging  cold  of  a 
Russian  winter,  the  steamer  tearing  its  course  through 
two-inch  ice  for  part  of  the  passage.  At  Rustchuck— a 
semi-Turkish  town  on  the  other  bank— we  found  the  first 
large  gathering  of  refugees.  They  are  quartered  wher- 
ever shelter  could  be  got,  cheaply.  Among  other  places 
the  Relief  Committee  had  rented  a  Theatre,  and  lodged 
fifty  families  in  it.  This  was  a  strange  sight.  The  build- 
ing is  a  very  rough  one,  of  unpainted  sawn  timber  inside  ; 
and  the  *  boxes '  looked  like  so  many  packing  cases.  Each 
of  these  held  a  family.     Others  filled  the  floor,  or  pit; 


286  CONSTANTINOPLE 

others  the  gallery ;  and  a  last  group  occupied  the  stage. 
In  several  parts  tiny  brasiers  were  doing  the  work  of 
stoves  for  cooking  ;  and  clothes  lines,  drying  linen,  varied 
the  scene ! 

"  At  Varna  the  climate  was  milder :  and  well  it  is  for 
the  refugees  that  it  is  so.  Here  again  they  are  quartered 
all  over  the  town ;  a  main  place  being  a  large  hospital 
rented  from  the  town  corporation.  Here  Katherine  Frazer, 
of  the  American  Mission  at  Van,  is  the  moving  spirit. 
She  has  forced  the  chaos  into  order,  and  no  one  of  the 
multitude  who  fled  thither  from  the  massacres  is  at  this 
moment  unclad  or  unfed.  Our  friend  Adams  has  set 
to  work  also,  hiring  rooms,  buying  tools  and  materials, 
and  getting  some  of  the  artisans  into  employment  in  their 
own  trades. 

"  Leaving  Varna  we  came  on  here ;  but,  delayed  by  fog 
on  the  Black  Sea,  we  reached  Constantinople  too  late  last 
night  to  be  allowed  by  the  police  to  land." 

To  James  Green,   Worcester,  Mass. 

Constantinople,  2-1-1897. 
"  The  approach  to  Constantinople  from  the  Black  Sea, 
the  way  by  which  we  came,  is  exceedingly  romantic : 
sixteen  miles  of  what  looks  like  a  broad  winding  river,  on 
either  bank  of  which  are  castles,  towers,  villas  and  gar- 
dens ;  hills  of  forest  and  moorland  ;  and  all  that  could  be 
dreamed  of  to  make  the  meeting-place  of  Europe  and  Asia 
grand  and  beautiful !  As  we  emerge  from  the  Bosphorus 
on  to  the  Sea  of  Marmora,  an  arm  of  the  sea  branches  off 
on  our  right,  into  which  we  sail.  This  is  the  Golden  Horn. 
On  either  side  of  it  rise  steep  hills  covered  with  strange 
and  beautiful  masses  of  building.  The  height  on  the  right 
is  Pera,  and  its  lower  slope  Galata ;  the  hills  on  the  left 
are  covered  by  Eski  Stamboul— the  old  Byzantium— the 
city  Constantine  the  Great  made  his  Eastern  Capital. 
Between  these  a  forest  of  masts,  and  dark  throngs  of 


THE  MASSACRES  287 

shipping  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  with  numbers  of 
'  kaiks '  flitting  and  darting  to  and  fro  between  the  larger 
vessels.  The  sun  was  setting  as  our  '  Austrian  Lloyd  * 
steamer  dropped  her  anchor ;  and  a  red  sky  cast  its  lurid 
light  on  the  city  with  weird  effect.  Here  are  the  domes 
and  the  minarets  one  has  heard  of  and  dreamed  of  from 
childhood :  and  now  all  at  once  the  dream  has  become  the 
reality,  and  still  a  reality  almost  too  beautiful  to  be  true  ! 
Alas  for  the  disillusion  of  to-morrow,  when  we  shall  tread 
the  dark  narrow  dirty  streets,  and  hear  the  story  of  the 
fearful  cruelties  that  are  not  yet  six  months  old  !  '  I  saw 
eight  men  flung  down  from  the  windows  four  stories  up,' 
said  the  mate  of  our  ship.  '  Eighteen  men  were  dragged 
out  from  a  hiding  place  above  the  ceiling  in  the  Khan 
where  I  was  living,'  said  a  woman  who  was  here  a  few 
days  since,  '  and  all  killed ; '  and  so  the  story  goes  on  as 
if  it  would  never  end ! 

"  The  widows  and  orphans  left  by  the  massacre  are  the 
principal  care  we  have  here  in  the  administration  of  the 
funds  raised  for  the  Armenians.  We  had  the  privilege 
lately  of  attending  the  sittings  of  the  local  (Constantinople) 
committee  of  relief,  and  of  the  general  committee  for  the 
Empire. 

"  Not  much  time  remains  on  our  hands  for  sight-seeing, 
rich  as  this  city  is  in  sights  of  interest.  We  have  been 
into  the  great  mosque  of  'Aya  Sofia,'  as  the  Turks  call  it— 
and  a  marvellous  scene  it  is !  The  night  before  last  I 
happened  to  be  passing  it,  too,  after  dark,  and  saw  the 
lamps  lighted  on  the  minarets  for  some  Moslem  festival. 
Another  night  as  my  wife  and  I  were  going  by,  the  sound 
came  echoing  down  from  the  gloom  above,  of  the  Muezzin's 
weird  Arabic  call  to  prayer.  As  its  last  tones  died  away 
on  the  first  minaret  they  were  caught  up  by  the  man  on 
the  second ;  and  he  in  turn  was  followed  by  the  third, 
whose  voice  was  sweet  and  musical ;  and  then  the  fourth, 
farther  off,  ended  the  series,  and  the  sky  was  silent 
again ! " 


288  OVANNES 

To  his  Children. 

Orient  Express,  Nisch,  Servia,  8-1-97. 

**  The  Station  [at  Constantinople]  is  rather  a  handsome 
building  at  Seraglio  Point,  and  the  line  skirts  the  Sea 
of  Marmora  for  some  distance.  It  is  worked  by  a  German 
Company.  I  did  feel  thankful  when  the  train  began  to 
move ;  for  even  on  this  very  platform  one  of  the  engine- 
drivers — a  brother  of  the  man  who  was  cook  at  Koum 
Kapou  when  we  came— was  cruelly  murdered,  his  hands 
and  feet  being  first  chopped  off. 

"  I  say  the  man  who  was  cook  ;  for  he  was  terribly 
afraid  of  staying,  and  we  helped  to  pay  his  passage  to 
Egypt.  When  he  went  for  his  passport  they  refused  to 
let  him  go ;  but  he  returned  at  last  from  the  Sublime  Porte 
(as  the  Europeans  call  the  government  offices)  in  high 
spirits,  having  bribed  the  officials  and  got  his  pass. 
Ovannes— for  that  is  his  name — is  a  little  man,  with  black 
hair  and  black  eyes,  very  thin.  I  gave  him  my  old  great 
coat,  which  comes  down  to  his  heels.  In  it,  and  his  red 
fez,  he  looks  fairly  like  a  European  Jew.  Anyhow,  he  is 
on  board  ship,  and  if  I  might  venture  a  guess  as  to  his 
present  whereabouts,  it  is  that  he  is  now  leaning  over  the 
gunwale  of  the  steamer,  shivering  amid  the  isles  of  the 
^gean  Sea,  in  my  great  coat,  sea-sick,  and  muttering  in 
Armenian,  '  Oh  that  I  had  died  by  the  hand  of  the  Turk, 
instead  of  coming  to  this !  '  But  in  a  week  he  will  land 
and  get  work,  as  he  has  a  kinsman  in  Alexandria  await- 
ing him. 

"He  is  a  very  good  cook— and  when  your  mother  one 
day  admired  some  dough  nuts  and  asked  him  for  the 
recipe,  he  showed  her  how  he  had  oiled  his  hand  over, 
and  squeezed  the  paste  out  of  his  fist  in  little  balls,  into 
boiling  fat.  A  queer  expression  passed  over  her  face  as 
she  realized  the  process,  and  though  Ovannes  went  away 
delighted,  and  prepared  to  make  enormous  numbers  of  the 
nuts,  I  have  not  noticed  your  mother  asking  for  any  more." 


PHILIPPOPOLIS  289 

To  Colonel  Carleton,  Clevedon. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  24-1-1897 

"  We  are  back  at  home  at  last,  tired,  yet  thankful  to 
have  taken  the  journey,  notwithstanding  that  in  its  retro- 
spect pain  seems  to  overshadow  all  other  feelings.  *   *   * 

"  It  [Philippopolis]  is  a  beautiful  place,  in  a  wide  plain, 
through  which  the  river  Maritza  runs.  Far  away  on  the 
north  we  see  the  range  of  the  Balkans,  with  the  Shipka 
Pass  ;  and  on  the  south  the  Rhodope  mountains,  where 
vast  quantities  of  roses  are  grown,  and  otto  is  distilled  for 
export.  There  are  picturesque  Roman  remains  in  the 
city  ;  but  the  recollection  I  shall  always  carry  of  it  will  be 
of  the  lodgings  of  the  refugees — room  after  room  with  its 
fireless  stove — and  the  cry  of  a  poor  woman  who  flung 
herself  on  her  knees  before  us  in  despair,  as  she  told  how 
the  relief  inspector  had  struck  her  off  the  list  for  bread, 
with  her  three  tiny  children,  because  she  had  a  bit  of 
carpet  on  the  floor,  which  I  suppose  she  had  snatched 
from  her  home  in  Constantinople  at  the  moment  of  their 
flight  from  the  massacre  ! 

"  It  takes  all  the  heart  out  of  one  to  remember  it !  " 


CHAPTER  XV. 

QUAKERISM— ANCIENT  RIGHTS-PEACE— THE  HAGUE  CONFERENCE- 
FOREST  OF  DEAN  — SEEDS  FROM  BORNEO -TRANSVAAL  WAR- 
LETTER   ON   PEACE. 

A  MISSIONARY  in  Asia  Minor,  whom  John  Bellows 
had  met  at  Constantinople,  had  asked  him— through 
a  mutual  friend — for  information  on  the  distinguishing 
doctrines  of  Quakerism.  The  following  was  John  Bellows' 
reply : 

To  Louisa  Smithy  Constantinople. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  7-5-1897. 

"  I  have  a  vivid  remembrance  of  Dr  Christie's  kindness, 
and  it  would  be  an  added  pleasure  to  the  inherent  one  of 
helping,  if  it  may  be,  to  satisfy  an  enquirer  into  Friends' 
doctrines,  if  I  could  be  of  any  service  to  him. 

'-'Au  fond,  what  is  called  Quakerism  rests  upon  one 
doctrine  only:  namely,  that  Christ  not  only  took  our 
human  form  and  nature,  and  suffered  for  us  outwardly, 
but  that,  as  God,  He  enlightens  all  men,  inwardly,  to  lead 
them  away  from  sin  to  a  state  of  redemption  ;  and  that  it 
is  only  as  we  receive  this  light  by  obeying  its  manifesta- 
tions that  we  can  be  made  partakers  of  the  salvation  He 
is  the  alone  Author  and  Finisher  of. 

'*  In  the  sublime  opening  of  the  book  of  John,  we  are 
reminded  first  of  the  Everlasting  Power  of  God,  by  which 
all  things  were  created— and  then  we  are  shewn  how  this 
same  Eternal  and  Divine  Nature  enlightens  every  man 
who  comes  into  the  world  :  that  it  is  as  a  light  shining  in 
darkness,  because  it  is  manifested  in  the   dark  natural 


OBEDIENCE  TO   THE   LIGHT  291 

mind  that  comprehends  it  not,  that  does  not  perceive  its 
true  character:  while  it  is  yet  sujjiciently  clear  to  he 
followed,  '  He  came  unto  His  own,  and  His  own  received 
Him  not ' — '  but  as  many  as  received  Him,  to  them  gave 
He  power  to  become  the  sons  of  God : '  that  is,  that  those 
who  receive  the  Light  and  walk  in  the  Light,  become  the 
children  of  the  Light,  partakers  of  the  Divine  Nature.  For 
if  we  walk  in  the  Light,  as  He  is  in  the  Light,  we  have 
fellowship  one  with  another,  and  the  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ  His  Son  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin.  This  is  the 
consummation  we  have  to  aim  at:  the  so  partaking  of 
the  Divine  nature  that  we  escape  '  the  corruption  that  is 
in  the  world  through  lust' — which  is  the  sum  of  all  the 
Promises. 

"  I  know  it  is  '  high,'  and  am  ready  to  say,  *  I  cannot 
attain  unto  it  *— but  I  must  attain  unto  it  if  I  would  dwell 
with  God  :  seeing  that  it  is  only  '  he  that  doeth  the  will  of 
God'  who  'abideth  for  ever.'  Yes,  it  is  high;  but  as 
Confucius  reminded  those  who  longed  after  righteousness, 
with  far  less  outward  or  intellectual  light  than  we  have, 
'  The  journey  of  a  thousand  li  is  begun  by  a  single  step.* 
The  first  step  is  to  obey  the  Light,  and  every  step  after  is 
to  follow  the  Light,  and  to  love  it  and  walk  in  it,  till  it 
shines  more  and  more  upon  us  '  unto  the  perfect  day."" 

"  Our  Saviour  warns  us  not  to  despise  the  day  of  small 
things,  for  in  the  spiritual  as  in  the  natural  world  the 
beginnings  are  indeed  small.  The  Kingdom  of  Heaven, 
the  way  of  salvation,  begins  almost  imperceptibly :  a 
gentle  influence— a  little  Light— a  grain  of  mustard  seed, 
which  is  less  than  other  seeds.  *  No  man  can  come  to  me,' 
says  Christ,  '  except  the  Father  which  hath  sent  me  draw 
him ' ;  and  again  He  says,  '  No  man  cometh  unto  the 
Father,  but  by  me.'  We  cannot  fathom  the  Infinite ;  but 
we  get  a  glimpse,  which  is  enough  for  us,  of  a  Power 
which  is  One^  under  whatever  manifestation  it  is  brought 
home  to  us,  drawing  us  to  forsake  sin  :  giving  us  ability  as 

S2 


292  QUAKERISM 

we  yield  to  it — itself  both  the  Way  and  the  Means,  the 
Beginning  and  the  End. 

"  This  is  the  foundation  upon  which  '  Quakerism'  (if  I 
must  use  the  name  given  by  those  who  did  not  comprehend 
it)  is  built !  For  my  own  part  I  would  press  this  home 
rather  than  dwell  much  on  the  points  that  grow  out  of  it. 

"  If  we  walk  in  the  Light,  as  God  is  in  the  Light,  we 
shall  become  like  Him :  filled  with  a  love  that  can  work 
no  ill  to  his  neighbour,  that  cannot  hurt  or  slay  him  for 
fear  he  may  hurt  or  slay  us :  filled  with  the  presence  of 
Christ,  in  the  real  Holy  Communion  that  needs  no  outward 
symbol  of  Passover  to  perfect  or  to  heighten  it :  washed 
with  the  water  of  Regeneration  that  is  the  thing  figured, 
by  '  putting  away  the  filth  of  the  flesh.' 

''  To  talk  of  these  experiences  before  we  have  ourselves 
attained  to  them  is  not  satisfying,  except  as  a  call  to  aim 
after  their  attainment.  I  certainly  have  not  attained  to 
them  ;  but  I  am  certain  that  what  Friends  have  held  with 
respect  to  the  way  to  reach  them  is  the  very  truth  ;  and  I 
would  that  all  men  believed  it. 

"  May  I  ask  thee  kindly  to  forward  this  letter  to  Dr 
Christie  with  my  most  kind  remembrance." 

To  Chief  Justice  Holmes.,  Boston,  Mass. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  10-7-1897. 

**  I  thank  thee  for  the  Address  at  the  opening  of  the 
School  of  Law,  which  I  have  read  to  my  wife  with  no 
little  interest.  The  principle  for  which  it  contends  seems 
to  me  remarkably  clear  ;  although  in  the  nature  of  things 
the  change  from  leaning  too  much  on  precedent,  to  a 
reliance  on  the  fundamental  reasons  for  the  law,  must  be 
a  very  gradual  one. 

"  I  recollect  some  articles  in  La  Revue  des  Deux 
Mondes,  many  years  ago,  by  a  French  lawyer  who  had 
been  commissioned  to  introduce  the  Code  Napoleon  into 
Japan.     He  pointed  out  the  inapplicability  of  it,  en  hloc,  to 


ANCIENT  RIGHTS  293 

the  utterly  different  conditions  of  society  in  a  far  eastern 
land  which  had  been  so  long  in  a  state  of  isolation  from 
other  countries.  What  the  outcome  was,  of  the  attempt, 
I  do  not  know  ;  but  one  can  guess !  Many  provisions  of 
the  Code  Napoleon  would  be  as  useful  to  the  Japanese  as 
would  the  old  Norsk  law  be  to  us,  which  provided  that  a 
man  might  follow  '  Bisvarme  sinum'  (his  Bee-swarm)  into 
his  neighbour's  wood,  and  cut  down  a  tree  upon  which  the 
bees  settled,  on  paying  its  bare  value.  In  reading  thy 
remarks  on  the  sHght  value  to  be  attached  to  the  study  of 
Roman  Law,  I  could  not  but  recall  some  of  the  points 
raised  in  Pliny's  letters:  cases  as  remote  from  your  needs 
or  ours,  as  that  of  the  Bee-swarm. 

"  Here  in  England,  where  all  our  law  has  gone  on 
'  broadening  from  precedent  to  precedent,'  it  will,  I  sus- 
pect, take  longer  to  disentangle  ourselves  from  old  customs 
than  it  will  you.  In  respect  of  land  rights,  commons,  etc., 
we  are  strangely  environed  by  the  past.  Take  my  own 
case,  which  is  a  good  specimen.  My  dwelling-house  is 
three -and-a-half  miles  out  of  the  city,  in  the  parish  of 
'Upton  St.  Leonards.'  This  parish  has  two  or  three  large 
pieces  of  land  over  which  certain  rights  of  common 
extend,  which  differ  in  themselves. 

"  On  one,  known  as  Awe-field  (from  the  same  root  as 
the  German  Aue,  a  meadow)  no  hedges  or  fences  can  be 
erected,  because,  in  the  autumn,  after  the  crops  are  off,  all 
the  occupiers  have  a  joint  right  of  pasturage  :  practically 
worth  about  as  much  as  this  sheet  of  paper,  but  guarded 
with  a  jealousy  hardly  credible  !  Under  '  The  Commons 
Enclosures  Act,'  however,  this  will  be  ended  in  the  coming 
autumn,  and  we  shall  see  hedges  spring  up,  and  the 
'  open-field  system  '  disappear. 

"  The  second  is  a  right  which  I  have  to  send  one  horse, 
or  two  cows,  or  so  many  sheep,  to  pasture  on  Painswick 
hill,  a  common  somewhat  over  a  mile  from  my  house. 
This  right,  I  am  assured,  comes  down  from  the  time  of  the 


294  BOROUGH  ENGLISH 

Crusades:  the  privilege  having  been  accorded  to  the 
families  of  those  who  were  absent  on  that  wild-goose 
chase  in  Palestine.  I  have  never  availed  myself  of  it, 
however ;  because  as  there  are  no  fences,  I  should  have 
to  keep  a  boy  to  hold  my  horse  in  tether  on  the  grass.  If 
he  were  to  stray  into  the  public  road,  he  would  be  cap- 
tured, and  I  should  have  to  pay  a  fine  for  the  trespass. 

*'So  much  for  the  rural  district.  Now  for  the  city. 
Gloucester  is  one  of  the  (perhaps)  thirty  places  in  England 
in  which  the  custom  of  '  Borough  English '  overrides  the 
common  law  of  the  land,  in  so  far  that  if  I  were  to  die 
to-night  intestate,  my  youngest  son  would  inherit  my 
business  premises,  while  my  eldest  son  would  have  Upton 
Knoll. 

"  I  once  went  pretty  fully  into  the  subject  with  the  late 
Justice  Denman,  and  convinced  him  that  the  real  reason 
for  Borough  English  must  have  been  the  Roman  law 
which  made  every  son  in  a  family  liable  to  conscription, 
except  the  youngest^  who  was  left  to  cultivate  the  farm, 
etc.  It  is  evident  that  if  the  land  were  at  once  settled  on 
the  youngest,  endless  litigation  would  be  avoided  ;  and 
litigation  under  the  disadvantage  of  the  inability  of  the 
principal  party  ever  to  appear  in  court,  seeing  he  would 
be  far  away  on  military  service  for  the  next  25  years. 

"  May  I  give  two  further  points  in  proof  of  this  conten- 
tion? First:  had  the  custom  originated  in  the  Feudal 
time,  it  would  have  borne  a  different  designation  :  for 
Borough  English  (with  the  adjective  after  the  noun)  is  a 
Norman  form,  implying  something  existing  before  the 
Norman  time  (else  why  '  English '  f)  That  the  Normans 
gave  the  name  is  plain.  Had  Englishmen  given  it,  they 
would  have  made  it  '  English  Borough '  with  the  adjective 
before  the  noun.  Second.  Had  the  custom  been  a  Manor- 
ial one,  it  would  apply  only  in  rural  districts,  and  would 
be  absent  in  free  cities,  i.e.^  cities  not  subject  to  lords 
of  manors.    But  here  is  the  exact  reverse ;  for  no  such 


BOROUGH  ENGLISH  295 

thing  as  Borough  English  holds  good  outside  Gloucester  : 
only  inside  the  city,  as  it  was  bounded  originally. 

* '  A  singular  point  of  law  arose  on  this  head  some  years 
ago,  and  I  was  asked  if  I  would  come  into  court  as  a 
specialist  witness  upon  it  with  respect  to  the  Roman  limits 
of  the  town.  (This  because  I  happened  to  be  the  dis- 
coverer of  the  lines  of  the  Roman  Vallation.)  The  case 
was  this.  A  steam  turnery  was  left  by  a  man  who  died 
intestate.  Two  sons  claimed  it :  the  elder  by  the  law  of 
primogeniture,  the  younger  by  Borough  English.  But  the 
premises  stood  just  outside  what  I  knew  to  have  been  the 
line  of  the  Roman  Wall.  Did  the  custom  hold  any  farther 
than  this  line?  The  answer  was  clear.  The  Romans 
always  kept  a  clear  zone  outside  the  Wall,  the  Pomevium, 
for  military  reasons,  which  zone  was  essentially  part  of 
the  city,  subject  to  the  authority  of  its  governing  body ; 
and  therefore  the  younger  brother,  according  to  the  intent 
of  the  custom,  ought  to  inherit  the  property. 

"  The  case  was  so  clear  that  the  elder  brother  was 
advised  to  withdraw  his  claim,  which  he  did  ;  and  my 
cross-examination  was  not  called  for ! 

'*  I  note  thy  remark  about '  Black-letter ' ;  but  I  feel  sure 

thou  wilt  not  refuse  to  accept  the  little  volume  I  send  by 

this  mail,  though  it  may  not  be  new  to  thee. 

"a  profitable  booke 

by  master  john  perkins,  of  the  inner  temple 

treating  of  the  lawes  of  england 

LONDON,    1609." 

It  is  in  black-letter  :  in  Norman-French  :  the  text  perfect : 
though  one  or  two  of  the  marginal  notes  have  been  sharply 
dealt  with  by  a  mouse — probably  of  the  Inner  Temple, 
temp.  Geo.  III.?" 

To  Colonel  Carleton,  Clevedon. 

Upton,  Gloucester,  26-7-1897. 
"  I  was  saying  to  myself  this  morning,  *  It  seems  a  long 
time  since  I  heard  from  Col.  Carleton !     I  wish  he  would 


296  MEETING  FOR  SUFFERINGS 

write  !  '—and  presently  after,  the  postman  brought  me  thy 
letter!     *    *    * 

"  I  forget  whether  I  have  at  any  time  previously  men- 
tioned that  the  name, '  Meeting  for  Sufferings  '*  was  given 
in  Charles  II. 's  time,  when  sometimes  thousands  of  Friends 
were  in  prison  at  a  time,  for  not  attending  '  Church  '—and 
this  was  the  committee  to  see  to  their  wants.  What  those 
sufferings  were,  few  have  any  idea  of.  I  alluded  to  one 
case  when  I  was  proposing  the  vote  of  thanks  to  A.  J. 
Balfour  in  the  Memorial  Hall  three  years  ago,  to  show 
that  while  the  Irish  <^/sloyalists  make  a  pretext  of  the  per- 
secutions the  Catholics  underwent  in  the  days  of  the 
Tudor s,  for  their  disaffection,  the  Friends  had  far  more 
reason  for  complaint,  yet  are  heartily  loyal  in  spite  of  the 
persecutions  they  endured.  Not  many  yards  from  where 
I  was  speaking,  a  delicate  young  girl  of  fifteen,  brought 
up  in  a  refined  circle,  was  dragged  away  from  the  Friends' 
Meeting  House  and  cast  among  the  mob  of  felons  and 
murderers  of  Newgate.  Her  mother  was  not  allowed  to 
be  with  her  ;  but  in  a  very  few  days  the  awful  surround- 
ings proved  too  much  for  her— the  jail  fever  seized  her  ; 
she  died  in  Newgate  prison ;  and  the  mother  was  notified 
that  she  could  come  to  the  gate  and  have  her  daughter's 
dead  body !  That  was  a  fiery  furnace  if  ever  there  was 
one ;  and  yet  there  was  not  a  single  Friend  of  all  those 
thousands  who  would  not  have  denounced  any  plotters 
against  the  King,  because  they  knew  it  was  their  duty  to 
be  loyal  to  him  in  all  matters  that  would  not  contravene 
their  duty  to  God. 

"Yet  many  times  since,  in  the  230  years  that  have 
passed  away,  the  name  '  Meeting  for  Sufferings '  has 
justified  itself;  and  it  is  doing  so  at  this  very  moment.     I 

*  The  Meeting  for  Sufferings  is  the  Standing  Committee  of  the 
Society  of  Friends.  It  is  composed  of  representatives  from  each  of 
the  Quarterly  Meetings  in  England  and  Wales,  who  meet,  monthly, 
at  the  headquarters  of  the  Society,  Devonshire  House,  Bishopsgate 
Street,  London. 


PEACE  PRINCIPLES  297 

have  just  been  made  a  member  of  it ;  and  have  to  go  up 
to  Devonshire  House  on  the  30th  to  attend  a  sitting,  at 
which  one  item  of  the  business  will  be  an  endeavour  to 
obtain  some  mitigation  of  the  sufiferings  of  the  Russian 
*  Doukhobortsi  '—four  thousand  of  whom  are  being  pun- 
ished to  the  very  extreme,  for  refusing  to  serve  in  the 
army." 

To  Gamaliel  MUner,  Mary-de- Crypt  Rectory,  Gloucester. 

Gloucester,  17-10-1898. 

"  I  thank  thee  much  for  thy  letter,  with  nearly  every 
word  of  which  I  am  in  personal  agreement.  I  say  per- 
sonally, because  I  feel  that  my  real  conviction  is  short  of 
the  highest  standard  in  this  matter  of  war.  That  is,  it  is 
a  matter  rather  of  spiritual  growth,  or  state,  than  of  mere 
theory.  If  a  man  has  so  far  submitted  to  the  death  of  self 
as  to  be  really  partaker  of  the  Divine  nature,  it  would,  I 
believe,  be  impossible  for  him  to  inflict  such  torment  on 
others  as  is  involved  in  fighting  them.  But  there  is  an 
infinite  variety  of  states,  and  many  things  are  permitted, 
temporarily,  as  fitted  to  a  less  enlightened  condition, 
which  are  afterwards  shown  to  the  conscience  as  wrong, 
and  to  be  given  up. 

"  Individually  I  feel  I  dare  under  no  circumstances 
assist  in  any  way  in  military  matters,  even  if  the  refusal 
involved  death.  At  the  same  time  I  am  fully  persuaded 
that  numbers  of  excellent  men  are  not  shown  this  as  their 
duty  ;  and  for  them  war  is  not,  per  se,  a  sin. 

"  I  think  thou  hast  not  seen  the  accompanying  tracts, 
which  illustrate  the  actual  carrying  out  of  the  Friends' 
conviction  under  circumstances  of  extreme  trial.  Sellar's 
narrative  is  interesting  archaeologically,  as  showing  what 
the  Fleet  was  like  in  the  time  of  the  Stuarts. 

**  I  have  only  very  imperfectly  outlined  what  I  wished 
to  say,  which  comes  to  this,  if  I  must  speak  unreservedly, 
that  I  am  '  hardly  ! '    (A  Friend  told  me  yesterday  that  his 


298  AIDING  A  PRISONER 

grandfather  was  once  passing  along  a  lane  at  Richmond 
with  two  others  of  the  Society,  when  a  messenger  came 
up  hurriedly,  and  desired  them  to  stand  aside,  for  the 
King  was  coming.  This  was  George  III.,  and  the  period 
was  just  that  at  which  his  reason  was  clouding  over.  The 
three  Friends  drew  up  close  to  the  hedge,  in  line.  Two 
were  dressed  rigidly  in  the  old  Quaker  style — and  as  the 
King  passed,  giving  them  a  scrutinizing  glance,  he  said — 
'  Quite,  quite.'  Coming  to  [the  third]  who  had  just  been 
married,  and  who  wore  a  nankeen  waistcoat,  he  paused, 
and  said  '  Hardly,  HARDLY  ! ') 

*'  I  can  smile  at  the  scene,  but  the  tears  come  into  my 
eyes  as  I  take  home  the  application  of  it." 

The  following  is  a  reply  from  John  Bellows  to  a  letter 
he  had  received  from  Major  Knox,  the  Governor  of 
Wandsworth  Prison,  and  formerly  the  Governor  of  the 
Gaol  at  Gloucester.  A  prisoner  had  asked  Major  Knox 
for  the  gift  of  a  *  composing  stick,'  that  he  might  have 
another  chance  of  earning  an  honest  living  at  his  own 
trade,  that  of  a  compositor,  when  his  term  of  imprison- 
ment was  ended.  Major  Knox  thought  that  the  tool  in 
question  would  probably  be  provided  by  the  employer, 
and  accordingly  wrote  to  ask  John  Bellows. 

To  Major  Knox,  Wandsworth  Prison. 

Gloucester,  6-3-1899. 

*'  For  this  man's  immediate  use  I  beg  thou  wilt  accept 
the  composing  stick  I  send  with  this.  It  is  the  size,  6-inch, 
generally  used  for  bookwork  and  news,  and  carried  by 
compositors,  who  are  by  custom  always  expected  to  pro- 
vide the  stick  themselves,  together  with  a  '  bodkin '  for 
correcting  (which  I  also  send)— unless  he  happens  to  be, 
what  I  am  not,  a  man  who  never  makes  mistakes. 

''When  I  think  of  poor  fellows  like  he  is,  leaving  the 
prison,  my  heart  aches  with  sympathy  for  them,  and  I 
often  wish  I  could  be  near  them  to  say  a  word  of  cheer 
and  encouragement  to  them. 


THE  CHOICE  OF   GOOD   OR  EVIL  299 

"  As  I  look  across  from  my  house  on  the  Cotteswold 
Hills  to  Birdlip  and  the  dividing  line  of  the  watershed, 
I  am  struck  with  the  thought  that  in  a  shower  of  rain  the 
faintest  whiff  of  the  breeze  on  a  falling  drop  turns  it  east 
to  find  its  way  into  the  Thames  and  away  into  the  North 
Sea— perhaps  finally  to  be  frozen  for  ages  at  the  North 
Pole  ;  or,  west,  to  the  Severn,  and  Kingroad,  and  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  to  bear  its  myriad -millionth  part  in  carry- 
ing the  commerce  of  the  world  to  and  from  America. 

'*  And  so  it  is  with  us.  I  am  sure  as  I  look  back  on  my 
own  past  life  I  see  escapes,  not  one,  but  many,  narrow 
enough  to  make  me  tremble  in  the  remembrance  of  how 
nearly  I  had  slipped  into  courses  that  would  have  led  me 
into  a  worse  fate  than  ever  befel  thy  poor  compositor, 
Wandsworth  Gaol  included  !  But  no  simile,  as  the  Latins 
used  to  say,  ever  runs  on  all  fours  ;  and  there  is  this 
difference  between  the  Cotteswold  rain-drop  and  the 
destiny  of  a  man,  that  while  the  one  is  entirely  passive, 
the  man  has  some  power  of  choice :  enough  certainly  to 
decide,  at  every  given  moment  of  his  life,  what  his  next 
turning  point  shall  be.  Two  forces  are  close  to  him,  but 
the  power  is  put  into  his  hands  to  fix  which  shall  afifect 
him  most. 

"  We  have  no  other  power,  to  speak  of,  than  this.  It  is 
as  if  I  stand  by  a  lever  which  opens  the  steam  valve  of  a 
ten  thousand  horse-power  engine  on  an  Atlantic  liner.  I 
could  no  more  move  the  ship  than  I  could  Kinchinjunga— 
but  the  tiny  sweep  of  the  iron  bar  that  is  within  my  power, 
to  or  fro,  puts  her  in  motion  for  New  York  or  for  the 
Manacles  !  And  so  with  our  souls.  Effort  is  required  of 
us,  for  God  will  not  condone  laziness  in  us,  or  release  us 
from  this  right  and  reasonable  condition— effort ;  not  to  do 
impossibilities  in  our  own  strength,  but  to  take  hold  of  the 
Powers  of  the  world  to  come,  and  overcome  the  inertia  of 
our  own  nature  till  we  force  even  it  into  an  element  of 
help  in  our  progress  towards  that  state  for  the  attainment 


300  DIVINE  HELP 

of  which  we  have  been  sent  into  this  world  of  time.  (How 
should  the  steamer  move  but  for  the  resistance  of  the 
water  to  the  screw  ?) 

"Do  carry  this  thought  home  to  the  dear  fellows  who 
are  under  thy  care  at  Wandsworth,  and  tell  them  that  it 
doesn't  matter  an  atom  what  their  past  has  been.  The 
moment  a  man  feels  he  has  gone  wrong,  and  longs  to  do 
right,  God  is  on  his  side  as  fully  and  as  earnestly  (if  I  may 
so  put  it)  as  if  he  were  an  angel  that  had  never  sinned  ; 
for  if  any  man  (aye !  the  biggest  rogue  in  England)  if  any 
man  lack  wisdom,  let  him  ask  of  God  who  giveth  to  all 
men  liberally  and  upbraideth  not,  and  it  shall  be  given 
him.  I  suppose  it  does  need  wisdom  to  know  how  to 
begin  again  and  keep  straight,  after  leaving  Wandsworth 
Gaol— but  that  is  the  very  wisdom  that  will  be  given  to 
every  one  that  seeks  it :  and  God,  who  can  do  all  things, 
can  make  even  Wandsworth  Gaol  a  stepping  stone  to  an 
honourable  life  and  a  blessed  eternity." 

To  William  Holland,  Norquay,  Manitoba. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  12-6- 1899. 

"  Dr  Johnson  once  laid  it  down  that  a  gentleman  ought 
never  to  apologize  for  what  he  cannot  help !  As  I  wish 
certainly  to  be  (what  he  was  not!)  of  the  class  indicated, 
I  will  not  apologize  for  letting  weeks  elapse  since  receiv- 
ing thy  last  letter  before  replying  to  it ;  because  every 
hour  of  my  time  has  been  occupied  to  a  degree  I  have 
never  before  known. 

"As  for  correspondence,  since  my  friend  Tchertkoff 
writes  me  that  he  has  by  him  ninety-five  unanswered 
letters  up  till  this  day  week,  I  take  comfort  on  the  principle 
of  our  Jack,  who,  when  a  little  boy,  came  home  aglow 
with  excitement  from  school  to  tell  his  mother  that '  there's 
a  prize  at  our  school  for  the  best  boy !  '  *  And  who  has  got 
it  ? '  asked  my  wife,  with  evident  hope  in  her  eye.  *  Oh 
nobody  hasn't  got  it,  because  there  is  no  best  boy.  We  are 
all  one  as  bad  as  each  other only  I'm  not  the  worst ! ' 


THE  HAGUE  CONFERENCE  301 

**  I  have  had  to  be  three  times  in  London  during  two 
weeks,  chiefly  on  account  of  the  'Yeariy  Meeting'  of 
Friends  there.  On  the  24th  ult.  they  decided  to  send  an 
address  to  the  President  of  the  Peace  Conference  at  the 
Hague.  The  draft  of  this  document  was  adopted  on  the 
forenoon  of  the  25th,  and  six  persons  chosen  to  take  it 
over  to  Holland,  of  whom  I  was  one.  They  engross  such 
things  for  presentation  to  public  men  on  vellum  ;  and  this 
took  a  clerk  some  hours.  It  was  finished  and  signed  by 
the  Clerk  of  the  Meeting  and  handed  to  us  at  6.30  p.m. 
At  8.30  we  were  in  the  train  for  Harwich  and  the  Hook  of 
Holland ;  and  at  seven  next  morning  we  were  at  the 
Hague.  It  took  us  some  hours  to  make  good  copies  of 
our  document  for  presentation  (both  in  English  and  French) 
to  several  other  envoys,  etc. ;  and  as  we  had  begged  of 
Baron  de  Staal  the  special  favour  of  his  allowing  us  to 
wait  on  him  soon,  we  received  a  note  at  five  the  same 
evening  to  say  he  would  see  us  at  six. 

"The  Envoys  of  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Germany 
are  lodged  in  the  magnificent  Hotel  des  Indes ;  while 
those  of  the  United  States,  Spain,  Persia,  Siam,  Italy, 
Russia,  and  four  other  nations,  are  at  the  Old  Doelen. 
This  is  a  place  400  or  500  years  old,  that  used  to  belong  in 
the  middle  ages  to  an  archery  guild.  When  Motley  was 
writing  his  history  of  the  Dutch  Republic  and  the  United 
Netherlands,  he  lived  in  it.  His  apartments  were  shown 
to  my  wife  and  me  some  two-and-a-half  years  ago,  when 
we  stayed  there  a  couple  of  days  on  our  way  back  from 
Constantinople. 

"  A  little  before  six  our  party  walked  quietly  to  the 
Doelen,  to  our  appointment.  The  city  is  exceedingly 
bright,  and  beautifully  planted  with  trees  and  flowering 
shrubs,  and  here  and  there  one  comes  upon  sheets  of 
ornamental  water.  Passing  one  of  these,  we  came  to  the 
square  in  which  the  Doelen  stands — roofed  everywhere 
over  with  the  foliage,  of  light  spring  green,  of  the  avenues 


302  BARON   DE  STAAL 

of  lime  and  elm,  and  fresh  from  yesterday's  showers  that 
made  the  sunlight  sparkle  wherever  the  blue  sky  shewed 
through  the  leaves.  The  feeling  was  difficult  to  convey. 
To  my  own  mind  it  seemed  all  so  new  and  so  perfect,  and 
with  the  sweet  mysterious  silence  that  reigned — for  there 
was  no  person  visible  but  ourselves — that  I  could  have 
imagined  the  unfallen  Paradise  to  be  no  great  distance  off, 
and  this  the  pathway  to  it  from  Earth. 

"  In  a  few  moments  we  were  shown  into  the  President's 
room.  A  very  gentle  old  man,  with  silver  hair  and  a  sweet 
sorrowful  smile  that  won  one's  heart,  received  us  with  a 
warm  shake  of  the  hand  :  a  few  preliminary  words ;  and 
then  we  asked  if  we  might  be  permitted  to  read  the 
address  to  him.  Assenting,  he  listened  with  his  head 
inclined  towards  us ;  and  when  we  had  done  (I  was  asked 
to  read  it)  he  said  in  French  '  I  perfectly  understand  your 
language,  but  you  will  pardon  me  if  I  reply  to  you  in 
French,  as  I  speak  it  more  fluently.  I  note  that  you 
take  for  your  address  the  religious  base  :  I  am  glad  to 
receive  it,  for  I  know  it  is  sincere.'  Three  of  us  had 
travelled  in  Russia,  and  we  took  the  opportunity  to  ex- 
press our  grateful  feeling  for  the  unvarying  kindness  we 
had  received  from  his  countrymen  of  every  class  :  a  few 
more  words — and  we  withdrew.  (Baron  de  Staal  has 
since  sent  the  Friends  a  very  warm  letter  of  thanks  for 
their  address.) 

"We  left  the  Hague  that  night  at  lo,  after  running 
down  to  Scheveningen,  the  pretty  seaside  place,  three 
miles  off,  and  having  tea  with  the  British  Consul  [Amster- 
dam], whose  sister  was  one  of  us  six  delegates.  His 
house  was  in  the  wood  that  covers  the  intervening  space ; 
and  I  shall  never  forget  the  brilliance  of  the  Spring  green 
overhead :  the  wood  in  some  places  floored  with  lilies  of 
the  valley  and  Solomon's  seal,  and  resounding  with  the 
loud  song  of  nightingales  all  the  afternoon  !  Next  morn- 
ing we  were  in  London,  having  been  absent  two  clear 


DEAN  FOREST  303 

days,  and  on  the  30th  we  gave  in  our  report,  and  were 
assured  of  the  satisfaction  of  Friends  at  its  execution." 

To  William  Holland^  Manitoba^  Canada. 

Gloucester,  26-8-1899. 

"  A  number  of  unforeseen  things  have  thrown  my  work 
into  arrear :  the  last  being  a  somewhat  sudden  visit  of 
Senator  Hoar,  of  Massachusetts,  who  is  now  for  the  sixth 
time  in  England.  He  wanted  to  see  some  of  the  older 
oak  trees  in  the  Forest  of  Dean  ;  and  before  I  was  aware 
of  it,  he  had  engaged  a  carriage  and  pair  and  driven  over 
from  Malvern  to  beg  me  to  accompany  him.  So  the  fol- 
lowing morning  we  drove  to  Lydney,  calling  on  Sir  James 
Campbell  [the  late  Deputy-Surveyor  of  the  Forest]  from 
whom  we  obtained  much  curious  information  about  oak 
planting.  The  chief  practical  point  in  it  was  that  oaks  are 
better  for  being  carefully  moved,  while  they  are  young 
trees :  though  Loudon  says  they  ought  never  to  be 
touched  after  springing  from  the  acorn! 

"  From  Lydney  we  drove  to  Whitemead  Park,  where 
Philip  Baylis  [the  Deputy-Surveyor]  lives  :  saw  the  very 
large  oak  about  a  mile  from  his  house,  in  Churchill 
enclosure,  21  ft.  7  ins.  circumference  6  ft.  up,  and  then 
drove  on  in  the  moonlight  to  Speech  House.*  It  is,  as  I 
daresay  thou  wilt  recollect,  an  ideal  spot  to  stay  a  night 
at.  I  greatly  enjoyed  the  cool  air  from  the  Forest  below, 
through  my  wide-open  bedroom  window,  wafting  in  the 
far  away  sounds  from  the  owls. 

"  Next  day  we  drove  to  Newland.  The  Newland  oak 
we  measured,  46  ft.  4  in.  round  the  trunk,  which  is  about 
twelve  feet  up  to  the  branches.  It  has  been  pollarded  at 
some  remote  time,  and  the  shoots  sent  out  from  the  trimk 
after  this  are  respectable  trees  themselves.  I  should 
hardly  think  it  is  less  than  a  thousand  years  old  ;   but 

*  The  Government  Court  House  and  Hotel  in  the  middle  of  the 
Forest  of  Dean. 


304  DEAN  FOREST 

it  is  not  possible  to  be  certain,  because  an  oak  reaches 
maturity  in  two  hundred  years ;  and  after  that  its  exist- 
ence seems  indefinitely  prolonged.  One  often  hears  that 
such  and  such  a  tree  is  mentioned  in  Domesday  Book ; 
but  on  searching,  no  such  mention  is  found ! 

' '  At  Bigswear  I  was  able  to  point  out  to  Senator  Hoar 
the  place  where  Wordsworth  stood  when  he  wrote,  now  a 
hundred  years  ago  or  thereabouts,  his  Lines  on  revisiting 
the  Wye  above  Tintern  Abbey.    One  point  in  the  poem  is  : 

'  These  hedgerows,  hardly  hedgerows,  little  lines 
'  Of  sportive  wood  run  wild  ' 

and  this  one  sees  still :  hedges  ten  or  twelve  feet  wide ! 

"  The  whole  round  was  one  of  strange  interest  to  an 
American  of  such  culture  as  Senator  Hoar ;  and  I  do  not 
think  he  will  ever  forget  it !  He  is  a  man  of  immense 
reading  and  of  tenacious  memory;  and,  as  thou  wilt 
imagine,  his  conversation  is  full  of  interest.  He  was 
familiar  with  Wendell  Holmes,  Russell  Lowell,  Whittier, 
Emerson,  Thoreau,  etc.,  etc. !  He  was  Thoreau's  school- 
fellow; and  Emerson's  younger  brother  Charles  was 
engaged  to  George  Hoar's  eldest  sister :  but  he  died 
prematurely  — a  man  of  the  very  highest  promise.  One 
thing  he  told  of  Emerson  was  pathetic— that  his  memory 
failed  for  names  while  he  still  clearly  recalled  persons. 
He  even  lectured  in  Boston  on  Memory  after  this !  His 
daughter  stood  by  his  side  to  hand  him  the  slips  in  the 
order  in  which  they  were  to  be  read ;  and  he  did  it  well !  " 

The  following  refers  to  a  contribution  by  John  Bellows, 
on  '  The  Forest  of  Dean,'  read  before  the  American  Anti- 
quarian Society  in  1899.  The  essay  was  the  outcome  of 
the  visit  to  the  Forest  referred  to  in  the  previous  .letter. 

From  Senator  Hoar,   Worcester,  Mass. 

Worcester,  Mass.,  Nov.  24,  1899. 

*'Dear  Mr  Bellows, 

"  I  send  you  the  proof  of  your  paper.  As  you  will  see, 
I  have  not   stricken  out  the  sentence  about  the  first  of 


LETTER  FROM  SENATOR  HOAR     305 

May,  thinking  it  better  to  leave  it  to  you  to  make  the 
correction  in  your  own  way.  You  can  of  course  sub- 
stitute anything  else  for  it  that  you  choose.  If  anything 
further  occur  to  you  to  be  added  to  the  paper,  pray  feel  at 
liberty  to  extend  it  or  change  it  as  you  like.  The  whole 
paper  gave  great  pleasure  to  the  Society.  Your  account 
of  the  working  of  that  mighty  machine,  a  Roman  army, 
was  specially  interesting.  Waldo  Emerson  once  said  of 
William  Ellery  Channing  that  he  could  read  into  a  hymn 
a  sense  that  nobody  else  who  read  it  could  ever  find  there. 
You  have  certainly  put  into  Statius  a  vigor  and  lofty  stroke 
of  poetry  which  it  is  a  little  difficult  to  find  there. 

"I  have  just  been  led  to  look  over  with  renewed 
delight  Canon  Rawnsley's  little  volume  entitled,  *  Sonnets 
at  the  English  Lakes.'  I  wonder  if  you  are  familiar  with 
it.  The  one  on  Wordsworth's  seat  at  Rydal  and  that  on 
Water-lilies  seem  to  me  exquisite.  He  was  over  here 
this  Autumn  and  I  had  a  brief  talk  with  him.  I  have  also 
this  morning  read  Wordsworth's  three  sonnets, — that  on 
the  thoughts  of  a  high-minded  Spaniard,  and  that  on  the 
greatness  of  a  country  manifested  by  keeping  within  her 
own  bounds  and  not  by  conquering  other  people,  and  the 
description  of  the  Spanish  guerilla.  They  are  wonderfully 
suited  to  our  time  and  to  my  own  country.  They  show — 
what  has  always  much  impressed  me — Wordsworth's 
wonderful  political  wisdom  and  insight.     *    *    * 

"  Faithfully  yours, 

George  F.  Hoar." 

To  Senator  Hoar^   Worcester,  Mass. 
Aviary  Cottage,  Redruth,  Cornwall,  26-9-99. 
"  The  story  of  the  introduction  of  plants  in  the  last 
century,  in  the  earth  from  Borneo,  is  this : 

*'I  must  premise  that  I  have  not  seen  it  in  print, 
but  only  received  it  verbally  from  a  friend  many  years 
ago,  who  also  had  had  it  himself  orally.  It  must  there- 
fore be  taken  subject  to  correction  in  any  detail. 


3o6  DOCTOR  FOTHERGILL 

"  DrFothergill  was  a  Friend  and  a  leading  physician  in 
London  in  the  latter  half  of  last  century.  He  took  great 
interest  in  botany ;  and  paid  the  expenses  of  JohnBartram, 
one  of  the  well-known  John  Bartrams  of  Philadelphia,  in 
exploring  some  of  the  forests  in  Florida,  etc.,  for  new 
plants :  an  undertaking  which  so  interested  the  King 
(George  III.)  that  he  desired  Dr  Fothergill  to  allow  him 
to  contribute  half  the  payment  to  Bartram  for  this  service  ; 
and  this  arrangement  was  made  accordingly. 

"  A  ship  arrived  in  the  port  of  London,  the  captain  of 
which  was  reported  suffering  from  yellow  fever ;  but  the 
disease  was  so  dreaded  that  the  medical  men  of  the  city 
shrank  from  the  risk  of  attending  such  a  patient,  and  he 
could  get  no  doctor.  At  this  juncture  Dr  Fothergill  heard 
of  the  case,  and  he  at  once  went  on  board  the  vessel  to  see 
what  could  be  done  for  the  captain.  As  he  had  no  family 
at  his  own  house,  he  decided  to  have  him  removed  thither 
from  the  ship,  so  that  he  could  watch  the  case  more  closely, 
and  give  the  seaman  more  attention. 

*'  Eventually  the  captain  recovered  from  the  fever.  On 
his  leaving  Dr  Fothergill,  he  offered  to  pay  him,  but  the 
Doctor  declined  to  receive  anything,  saying  that  he  was 
sufficiently  recompensed  for  any  service  he  had  been  able 
to  render  the  captain,  by  the  opportunity  the  latter  had 
afforded  him  of  diagnosing  a  complaint  with  which  he  had 
had  no  previous  acquaintance.  The  Captain  begged  him 
to  give  him  some  opportunity  of  showing  that  he  was 
at  least  grateful  for  all  the  kindness  he  had  received  at 
the  Doctor's  hands  ;  and  telling  him  that  he  was  going  to 
China  on  his  next  voyage,  he  asked  if  there  was  anything 
he  could  bring  him  back  from  there. 

"  On  reflection,  Dr  Fothergill  asked  the  Captain  whether 
his  course  would  take  him  past  the  Island  of  Borneo. 
The  Captain  said,  Yes  :  he  was  going  to  sail  past  Borneo. 
*  Then,'  the  Doctor  said,  '  if  when  thou  art  off  the  coast 
thou  would  St  let  some  of  thy  men  go  ashore,  and  bring  me 


SEEDS  FROM  BORNEO  307 

two  casks  full  of  earth,  from  as  many  points  as  they  can 
get  it  without  going  out  of  their  way,  or  without  much 
trouble,  I  should  be  much  obliged  to  thee.' 

"  No  intimation  was  however  added,  as  to  the  use  to 
which  the  Bornean  earth  was  to  be  put ;  and  as  the 
captain  could  not  even  guess  the  object  of  it,  he  could  not 
summon  courage  to  give  his  men  what  seemed  such  a 
foolish  order.  He  sailed  past  Borneo  to  China,  finished 
his  voyage  out,  and  came  back  again  through  the  Straits. 
Again  he  shrank  from  making  a  fool  of  himself ;  and  the 
ship  had  left  Borneo  behind,  on  her  way  home,  when  he 
began  to  realize  that  the  only  reason  he  could  give  Dr 
Fothergill  for  not  bringing  what  he  had  asked  for,  was 
that  the  request  was  so  simple  !  He  felt  that  if  the  Doctor 
had  asked  for  some  great  thing  he  would  only  have  been 
too  glad  to  do  it,  to  prove  his  gratitude  for  all  that  had  been 
done  for  him  as  a  stranger  in  a  strange  place.  He  put 
the  ship  back,  gave  the  order  for  the  casks  to  be  taken 
ashore  and  filled  with  earth,  and  then  sailed  for  London. 
On  his  arrival  in  port,  he  sent  word  to  Dr  Fothergill  that 
the  barrels  of  earth  were  on  board,  awaiting  his  orders. 

"  The  Doctor  had  a  great  area  of  greenhouses :  more 
glass  in  fact  than  any  other  private  person  in  England ; 
and  he  at  once  had  a  quantity  of  earth  burned,  so  as 
to  destroy  the  seeds  lying  in  it,  and  spread  out  in  the 
greenhouses.  On  this  he  laid  in  a  thin  stratum  the  con- 
tents of  the  two  barrels  from  Borneo  ;  and  in  due  time  his 
foresight  was  justified  by  the  springing  up  of  a  large 
number  of  what  are  now  common  ornamental  plants  of 
Europe  and  America." 

In  the  summer  of  1900,  John  Bellows  published  a 
pamphlet  entitled  '  The  Truth  about  the  Transvaal  War,' 
in  which  he  defended  the  British  Government  from  what 
he  considered  unjust  attacks  upon  its  policy  in  South 
Africa.  During  a  journey  to  Russia  in  the  previous  winter 
he  had  noticed  the  ignorance  of  his  friends  there  on  the 

T2 


3o8  THE  TRANSVAAL  WAR 

past  history  of  the  Transvaal  question ;  and  this  led  him 
to  enquire  into  the  whole  subject  more  closely.  He  spent 
much  time  and  care  in  the  compilation  of  his  pamphlet, 
and  in  it  he  showed  that  the  British  Government  was 
justified  in  its  contention  that  the  war  had  been  forced 
upon  it.  His  testimony  against  war,  as  the  second  part 
of  his  work  would  show,  was  not  abandoned ;  for  his  con- 
viction was  that  '  war  is  wrong :  but  not  alike  wrong  to 
all.'  The  position  he  took  upon  the  question  led  him  into 
considerable  controversy  at  the  time.  The  pamphlet  had 
a  large  issue,  and  was  subsequently  translated  into  French 
and  German,  and  circulated  on  the  Continent. 

To  Professor  Church,  Kew. 

Gloucester,  4-11-1899. 

"  I  lately  had  a  book  lent  to  me  by  Julia  Sterling, (the 
daughter  of  Carlyle's  friend,  John  Sterling)  '  The  Spiritual 
Order,'  by  T.  Erskine.  The  volume  had  belonged  to  her 
uncle,  Frederick  Denison  Maurice,  who  valued  it  highly. 

"It  is  out  of  the  ordinary  run  of  theological  books  :  a 
closely  and  clearly  reasoned  argument  for  the  gradual 
evolution  of  every  soul  into  harmony  with  the  Divine 
Will :  i.e.,  of  the  entire  human  race,  without  exception. 

**  I  would  send  thee  a  copy  if  I  were  sure  it  would 
interest  thee,  but  I  know  how  entirely  the  use  of  a  book 
depends  on  the  state  of  the  reader,  and  that  what  is  help- 
ful to  one  may  not  be  so  to  another. 

"  What  led  to  my  mention  of  Erskine  was  the  thought 
of  war  and  its  incompatibiUty  with  pure  Christianity  : 
therefore  its  final  cessation  when  the  point  is  reached  in 
the  evolution  of  the  race,  at  which  pure  Christianity  shall 
prevail. 

"  Men  can  be  Christians  far  short  of  this — real  and  true 
Christians,  I  mean;  for  it  is  not  by  any  ideal  outward 
standard  that  God  judges  the  heart,  but  simply  and  solely 
by  faithfulness  to  the  degree  of  light  one  has  at  a  given 
time.     But  when  a  young  man  who  had  lived  a  remarkably 


CHRISTIANS  AND   THE  WAR  309 

faithful  life  came  to  Christ,  he  was  Moved'  by  him  on 
this  account,  and  yet  he  was  told  that  if  he  would  be 
perfect  he  must  take  a  further  step.  And  so  in  this 
matter  of  war :  if  we  would  be  perfect^  we  must  cease  to 
inflict  suffering  and  death  on  others. 

"  This  thought  does  not  keep  me  from  keen  pain  at 
the  anxieties  of  my  friends  who  have  near  kinsmen  in 
Natal.  -^  -J*-  ^  But  while  I  dare  not  kill,  I  am  an 
Englishman !  " 

To  Thomas  Hodgkin^  Barmoor  Castte. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  16-11-1899. 

"  Surely  if  there  is  any  reality  in  Quakerism  it  lies  in 
its  clear  teaching  on  the  different  degrees  of  light  which 
go  with  different  states.  We  know  that  the  vast  majority 
of  really  Christian  men  and  women  do  not  regard  all  war 
as  wrong,  and  that  to  those  who  look  upon  it  as  inevitable 
under  some  circumstances,  it  is  as  lawful  as  it  was  to  the 
Jews  under  the  former  dispensation  ;  while  those  who 
closely  follow  the  Light  are  led  beyond  this  to  the  ground 
Friends  are  called  to  take — that  of  a  larger  degree  of 
faith  in  God,  and  of  the  love  of  God,  in  which  it  is  no 
longer  possible  to  hurt  or  destroy  men.    -^     -^f-    * 

"We  shall  never  bring  any  thoughtful  person  to  the 
true  principle  of  peace  by  casting  aspersions  on  our  own 
Government  in  reference  to  the  Transvaal  War,  or,  in 
other  words,  by  unjust  statements  as  to  the  origin  of  the 
war.  On  the  other  hand,  while  admitting  the  difficulty  of 
the  position — the  impossibility  of  evading  the  final  resort 
to  armed  force  by  any  honourable  men  who  believed  in 
using  the  sword,  we  in  no  way  lower  our  standard  that 
for  him  who  would  be  perfect  all  war  is  forbidden.  At 
least  this  is  the  only  ground  that  to  me  seems  tenable.  It 
is  a  ground  that  those  who  differ  from  us  respect,  and 
from  which  they  are  therefore  amenable  to  influence: 


310  LETTER  TO  SOLDIERS 

though  our  influence  can  never  be  eff'ective  beyond  the 
degree  to  which  we  are  ourselves  individually  in  touch 
with  the  Spirit  of  love  and  peace  in  our  own  hearts." 

In  January,  1900,  John  Bellows  had  as  fellow-travellers 
from  Swindon  to  Gloucester  two  men  with  whom  he  soon 
got  into  conversation.  They  were  soldiers  from  Aldershot 
on  their  way  home  to  say  good-bye  to  their  wives  and 
families,  as  their  regiments  were  ordered  to  leave  for 
South  Africa  the  following  week.  The  two  men  separated 
at  Gloucester,  and  were  to  meet  there  on  the  following 
evening.  In  the  case  of  one  of  them  a  walk  of  seven 
miles  each  way  was  involved :  in  the  case  of  the  other 
the  journey  was  less  laborious :  but  with  both,  the  hours 
at  home  would  be  considerably  reduced  on  account  of  the 
distance  they  had  to  go.  The  men  did  not  complain,  but 
looked  on  these  inconveniences  as  inevitable,  and  were 
grateful  when  John  Bellows  gave  them  such  help  as  made 
their  journeys  easier.  He  heard  from  them  from  South 
Africa  more  than  once ;  and  it  gave  him  acute  suffering 
when  he  read  of  the  death  of  one  of  them  from  enteric 
fever  there.  John  Bellows'  interest  in  this  poor  man  did 
not  end  here,  for  he  did  all  that  lay  in  his  power  to  raise 
up  friends  for  the  widow  and  her  family. 

To  Private  George  Roberts,  and  Private  Joseph 

Goodall^  South  Wales  Borderers. 

Gloucester,  9-1-1900 
"  My  dear  Men, 

"I  hope  you  got  home  all  right  after  I  left  you  at 

Gloucester  station,  for  I  assure  you  I  have  been  thinking 

a  good  deal  about  you  and  the  rest  of  your  mates  who  are 

sailing  to-morrow  for  Africa,  and  wishing  it  were  in  my 

power  to  help  you  in  some  way.     It  is  not  much  that  one 

person  can  do  in  this  way :  but  I  got  a  few  books  together 

yesterday,  and  sent  them  off  by  Midland  Railway  to  your 

address  on  the  '  Bavarian '  thinking  they  would  do  to  read 

on  the  voyage,  as  three  or  four  weeks  will  hang  heavy  on 

your  hands  if  you  have  nothing  to  do.     Besides  this  I  put 

in  some  paper  and  envelopes  and  pens  and  pencils  which 


TRUST  IN   GOD  311 

you  can  divide  among  the  men  who  would  like  to  write 
home  while  they  are  on  board,  ready  to  post  when  you  get 
ashore. 

"  None  of  us  know  what  lies  ahead  of  us.  I  hope  you 
may  all  be  spared  to  come  back  to  your  homes  again,  even 
if  you  have  to  rough  it ;  but  in  case  you  should  be  laid  up 
in  J^ospital  or  anything  like  that,  and  you  would  like  me  or 
my  wife  to  go  over  to  Winchcomb  or  to  Cinderford  and 
see  your  people  for  any  reason,  let  us  know  and  we  will 
do  it ;  or  if  any  of  your  mates  want  any  messages  got  to 
relatives  in  England,  that  we  could  be  of  any  use  in  getting 
done  for  them,  we  should  be  glad  to  try  our  best  to  help 
them.  I  know  myself  what  it  is  to  be  hundreds  of  miles 
away  from  home  in  a  foreign  land,  when  I  have  been  glad 
of  ever  such  a  little  kindness  from  a  stranger,  but  I  have 
had  no  one  to  ask  help  of  but  God.  Only  a  few  weeks  ago 
I  was  half  as  far  off  from  here  as  you  will  be  at  the  Cape  : 
but  in  the  north  of  Russia.  It  was  dreadfully  cold,  and 
I  got  a  chill  one  evening  that  made  me  feverish,  and  so 
bad  in  a  few  hours  that  I  was  suddenly  brought  face  to  face 
with  the  chances  of  death.  It  looked  black  enough  to  have 
to  pass  away  without  a  word  of  farewell  to  wife  or  child, 
and  lie  under  the  snow  yonder ;  and  so  I  know  exactly 
what  many  a  soldier  has  to  feel,  besides  his  bodily  pain, 
when  he  comes  to  die  on  the  field  of  battle.  It  may  be 
that  one  of  you  may  have  this  to  pass  through — though 
with  all  my  heart  I  hope  you  will  not.  But  if  you  should, 
get  this  thought  fixed  firm  in  your  hearts  beforehand,  and 
you  will  find  it  will  hold  you  up  even  in  death— that  God 
who  made  you  is  as  near  to  you  as  your  own  breath  is, 
and  that  His  Spirit  keeps  in  touch  with  your  spirits :  so 
close  in  touch  that  He  does  not  even  need  a  cry  from  the 
lips  to  reach  Him — only  a  look  of  the  heart  itself,  so  to 
say,  and  a  determination  to  trust  in  His  goodness  and 
mercy,  no  matter  a  bit  how  you  don't  deserve  it,  and  how, 
if  He  will  save  you,  it  will  be  by  forgiving  all  you  have 


312  HELP  FROM  ABOVE 

done  against  Him ;  or  to  put  it  into  Bible  words,  He  is  able 
to  save  to  the  uttermost  all  that  come  unto  Him:  and  in 
His  own  words,  '  Him  that  cometh  imto  Me  I  will  in  no 
wise  cast  out.' 

''You  will  have  many  a  quiet  moment  on  the  voyage, 
leaning  over  the  taffrail  or  lying  silent  in  your  berths  in  the 
darkness  of  the  night,  when  you  can  turn  your  heartj|to 
Him,  knowing  that  He  is  everywhere  and  always  present, 
everywhere  and  always  ready  and  longing  to  help  every 
soul  that  He  ever  created.  No  form  of  prayer  is  needed ; 
nothing  whatever  but  the  feeling  of  need  itself,  and  the 
feeling  certain  that  He  who  made  the  heart,  reads  every 
thought  in  it,  and  will  help,  no  matter  what  the  need  is,  or 
how  short  the  time  is.     Time  is  nothing  to  Him, 

''  And  now  I  will  say  no  more,  for  I  don't  want  to  talk  a 
word  more  than  I  feel— that  would  be  only  cant:  but  it 
isn't  cant  to  say  what  one  really  does  feel. 

"If  you  can  send  me  a  line  from  the  Cape,  do:  and  if 
you  come  back  to  Gloucester  after  the  war  is  over,  I  shall 
be  very  glad  to  shake  hands  with  you  once  more,  and  so 

"  I  am  your  friend,  . 

John  Bellows 

"I  put  in  a  few  stamps  in  case  any  of  your  men  are 
short  of  one  for  sending  a  letter  home  from  the  ship." 

To  Colonel  Carleton^  Norwood. 

Keswick,  22-8-1900. 
"It  is  easy,  but  wrong,  to  get  angry  with  people  for 
being  dull  of  apprehension,  or  even  petulant ;  and  I  am 
reminded  of  a  scene  I  witnessed  nearly  fifty  years  ago  in 
Gloucester.  A  young  Irish  clergyman  asked  me  to  help 
him  with  a  class  in  an  evening  school  for  boys  and  young 
men,  to  which  came  a  half-witted  fellow  named  Joe 
Hewlett,  who  was  turned  over  to  me  for  spelling  lessons. 
It  took  me  a  whole  fortnight  to  get  him  to  spell  ox.  He 
was  at  last  thoroughly  grounded  in  it,  and  could  read  it 
without  a  hitch,  though  he  could  read  nothing  else. 


JOE  HEWLETT  313 

'*At  the  next  class  after  his  mastering  the  word,  there 
was  a  new  comer— a  little  lad  of  twelve,  who  had  never 
been  to  school.  Seating  him  between  Joe  and  myself,  I 
took  up  the  book,  and  touching  the  now  well-thumbed 
word,  I  told  him  that  the  first  letter  was  O,  which  he 
repeated, — and  then  that  the  second  was  X.  '  What  does 
O  X  spell  ? '  I  asked.  Timidly  the  little  fellow  replied— 
'  I  dofCt  know  P  Whereupon,  quick  as  lightning,  Joe 
Hewlett  snatched  away  the  spelling-book,  shut  it,  and 
brought  it  down  on  the  boy's  head  with  a  crash,  exclaim- 
ing very  angrily,  '  You  fool  !  How  don't  you  know  what 
OX  spells?' 

'*How  many  of  us  have  got  beyond  Joe  Hewlett?  I 
fear  not  thy  friend  John  Bellows,  though  he  is  striving  to !" 

To  his  daughter  Hannah. 

Gloucester,  18-1-1901. 

"  Thy  little  note  is  especially  a  pleasure  to  me  on 
reaching  this  seventieth  year  of  my  life  :  an  age  I  should 
have  looked  upon  as  dismaying,  from  a  distance,  but  not 
in  the  least  so  on  closer  sight  of  it. 

'*I  think  of  the  closing  words  of  the  23rd  Psalm,  and 
make  them  retrospective  as  well ;  for  surely  goodness 
and  mercy  have  followed  me  all  the  days  of  my  life  ;  and 
one  evidence  of  them  is  the  increase  of  hope  and  of  cheer- 
fulness as  life  goes  on,  instead  of  its  diminution.  And 
this  not  on  my  own  account  only,  but  for  all  of  us :  for 
*  all  men  everywhere.'  In  this,  as  in  all  things,  we  shall 
certauily  have  to  say,  '  As  for  God,  His  way  is  perfect ! ' " 

To  the  Friends  at  the  Meeting  on  Peace^  held  at  Westminster 
Meeting  House^  London,  2  mo.  8,  igoi. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester. 
"  Dear  Friends, 

"As  I  understand  some  of  your  committee  kindly  invited 

me  to  this  meeting,  I  wish  to  say  I  should  have  looked  to 

being  present  with  you  but  for  the  distance  of  my  home 

from  London. 


314  LETTER  ON  PEACE 

"May  I,  however,  write  a  few  lines  expressive  of  the 
hope  that  the  Divine  Presence  may  be  so  sought  in  it  that 
a  blessing  may  rest  on  the  gathering  for  such  an  object ; 
for  it  is  not  by  argument  alone,  or  even  principally  by 
argument,  that  the  kingdom  of  Christ  is  advanced  in  the 
hearts  of  men,  but  by  the  love  of  God  overflowing  in  those 
imbued  with  it,  and  felt  in  and  through  the  arguments 
they  may  use  in  support  of  the  truth. 

"  In  exact  proportion  to  our  personal  experience  of  the 
love  of  God,  is  the  power  of  our  entering  into  sympathy 
with  those  whom  we  seek  to  enlighten  ;  and  this  love  and 
sympathy  will  make  us  very  patient  with  those  who  do 
not  see  what  to  us  is  clear  ;  for  the  giving  of  sight  to  the 
blind,  spiritually,  is  often  a  very  gradual  process,  as  it  is 
in  the  natural  life. 

"  I  feel  it  thus,  because  I  have  so  often  missed  my  way 
for  want  of  this  patience  and  forbearance,  and  I  feel  that 
others  may  also  miss  it  for  the  same  reason.  When  our 
Saviour  anointed  the  blind  man  (in  John,  chap,  ix.)  He 
did  not  at  once  give  him  sight,  but  sent  him  first  to  the 
pool  of  Siloam  to  wash ;  and  it  was  not  until  this  second 
exercise  of  his  faith  and  obedience  that  the  blind  received 
his  sight.  So  again  in  the  case  of  the  blind  man  at 
Bethsaida  (in  Mark,  chap,  viii.)  the  process  was  one  of 
degrees  :  for  first  he  saw  men  as  trees  walking  :  and  after 
that  Jesus  put  his  hands  upon  his  eyes  and  made  him  look 
up  ;  and  then,  but  not  till  then,  he  saw  clearly. 

**  While,  then,  we  hold  fast  that  we  have,  that  no  man 
take  our  crown,  in  this  testimony  that  war  without  excep- 
tion, and  under  every  circumstance,  is  contrary  to  the 
pure  law  of  Christ,  we  must  be  extremely  careful  not  to 
condemn  by  line  and  rule  those  who,  while  sincere  in 
obedience  to  other  parts  of  His  law,  have  not  yet  received 
their  sight  upon  this  point  in  it.  To  blame  or  to  be  angry 
with  such  as  those  for  disobedience  to  the  letter  of  the  New 
Testament  in  the  matter  of  war,  would  be  comparable  to 


THE  LEADING  OF  THE  SPIRIT  315 

our  blaming  or  being  vexed  with  the  man  who  described 
men  as  moving  trees,  because  of  his  imperfect  sight ;  or 
being  impatient  with  him  who  is  groping  his  way  to  the 
Pool  of  Siloam,  instead  of  gently  helping  to  guide  him 
thither  that  he  may  be  healed. 

*'  To  keep  up  the  simile,  this  is  exactly  what  the  earliest 
Friends  did,  from  whom  we  received  this  testimony 
against  war.  They  did  not  so  much  deal  with  the  sepa- 
rate diseases  of  men,  as  send  them  all  to  the  Pool  of 
Siloam,  where  each  would  be  healed  of  whatsoever  disease 
he  had.  That  is,  they  referred  every  one  to  the  power  and 
Spirit  of  the  Son  of  God  manifested  directly  to  his  own 
soul,  and  that  power  and  Spirit  brought  each  individual  to 
a  state  in  which  fighting  was  no  longer  possible  to  him. 

"  My  belief  is  that  exactly  in  proportion  as  we  do  this, 
our  testimony  for  Peace  will  again  become  a  power  in  the 
world.  If  we  do  not  do  it,  disguise  the  matter  as  we  may 
from  ourselves,  we  shall  drag  it  down  to  the  level  of 
a  fad  ;  and  we  shall  become  hopelessly  narrow,  instead 
of  broad  and  deep  and  able  to  help  others. 

"  We  were  raised  up,  and  are  raised  up  as  a  body,  not 
primarily  to  advocate  separate  truths,  but  to  testify  by 
our  lives  and  our  lips  and  our  pens  to  the  one  foundation 
truth  of  obedience  to  the  Spirit  of  God  which  leads  into  all 
truth.  Bringing  this  home  to  other  men,  we  shall  be  care- 
ful never  to  upbraid  or  blame  them  except  in  the  Spirit 
and  under  its  direct  leading — else  we  repel  them ;  for  as 
I  lately  saw  it  remarked  in  an  old  book  :  *  He  who  finds 
fault  with  another  without  praying  for  him,  is  a  mere 
mischief-maker.'  I  believe  a  sentence  from  the  Confessions 
of  Augustine  (Book  III.  Chap.  IX.)  will  help  us  to  realize 
what  the  attitude  of  mind  should  be  of  Friends  towards 
those  who  do  not  see  with  them  on  war  in  its  relation  to 
Christianity.     Augustine  says  : — 

'  Amidst  these  offences  of  foulness  and  violence  and 
so  many  iniquities,  are  sins  of  men  who  are  making 


3i6  DEPUTATION   TO  THE  KING 

progress,  which  by  those  who  judge  rightly,  accord- 
ing to  the  law  of  perfection  are  condemned,  yet  the 
persons  considered  in  hope  of  future  fruit,  as  the 
green  blade  has  promise  of  corn.' 
"As  our  own  hearts  are  brought  to  peace  and  kept  in 
peace  we  shall  powerfully  help  others  to  reach  the  same 
experience,  and  in  this  they  and  we  shall  realize  that  none 
can  hurt  or  destroy  in  all  the  Lord's  Holy  Mountain. 

**  I  am  your  friend, 

"  John  Bellows." 

In  March,  1901,  a  number  of  delegates,  including  John 
Bellows,  were  appointed  by  the  Society  of  Friends  to 
convey  an  Address  to  King  Edward  VII.  on  the  occasion 
of  his  accession.  The  following  extract  from  a  letter 
describes  the  scene  at  St.  James's  Palace  : — 

To  his  son  Philip,  Philadelphia, 

Cheyne  Walk,  Chelsea,  12-3-1901. 
<<*  *  *  A  buzz  of  conversation  behind  us  gets  a 
little  too  loud  for  etiquette,  and  an  officer  in  front  gives  a 
gentle  'sh  I  This  is  not  for  the  Friends,  however :  but  for 
Lord  Roberts  and  a  little  knot  of  officers  just  behind  us, 
who  are  waiting  their  turn  for  some  other  deputation. 
Then  the  door  opens,  and  we  all  move  forward  between 
the  lines  of  life  guards,  to  the  front  of  the  throne.  The 
King,  seated  on  it,  is  dressed  in  scarlet ;  the  Duke  of 
Cornwall  and  York,  on  his  left,  standing,  is  dressed  in 
black  with  many  stars  and  insignia  on  ;  and  a  gentleman 
I  cannot  identify  stands  on  the  right  of  the  throne.  On 
either  hand  of  these  stand  officers  and  life  guards.  Caleb 
Kemp  steps  slightly  in  advance,  and  reads—'  May  it 
please  the  King,'  and  so  on.  The  King  stoops  forward— 
and  is  evidently  listening  earnestly.  He  is  touched — as  I 
felt  certain  he  would  be.  Caleb  Kemp,  in  closing,  ex- 
plains that  there  are  also  some  Friends  from  Ireland 
among  us,  who,  though  they  had  no  share  in  the  address, 


AT   ST.    JAMES'S  PALACE  317 

wish  to  identify  themselves  with  its  assurance  of  loyalty 
to  himself  and  the  throne,  and  with  our  desires  for  his 
welfare  and  that  of  his  people.  He  rolls  up  the  address 
and  hands  it  to  the  King,  who  takes  it  and  bows,  and  then 
passes  it  to  an  officer.  The  gentleman  on  his  right  then 
steps  forward  and  places  before  him  his  written  reply  (for 
the  King  has  previously  read  the  address  and  prepared 
his  answer,)  which  he  reads  clearly  and  in  a  deep  voice. 
It  is  beautiful— and  expresses  a  hope  that  the  principles 
Friends  have  striven  for  may  spread  during  his  reign, 
while  he  asks  our  prayers  for  his  faithful  fulfilment  of  the 
duties  that  fall  to  his  lot  as  Sovereign. 

"  Caleb  Kemp  then  takes  two  steps  forward  and  bends 
to  kiss  the  King's  right  hand ;  then  introduces  Bevan 
Braithwaite,  who  does  the  same ;  and  then  we  all  slowly 
move  backward  towards  the  door.  I  am  on  the  outside 
edge,  and  I  keep  myself  right  by  alignment  with  the  life 
guards  as  we  draw  back.  Downstairs— get  our  coats, 
etc. — and  then  into  the  air  again,  and  the  sunshine — for  it 
is  a  nice  spring  day  ;  past  more  grenadiers,  squadrons  of 
horse  guards,  and  so  to  the  Park,  and  then  here  to  Chelsea 
to  lunch. 

"  I  have  given  thee  the  outside  state  of  things.  To  me 
it  simply  brought  home  the  lesson,  '  The  fashion  of  this 
world  passeth  away,'  and  the  feeling  of  how  great  and 
earnest  the  duty  is  of  our  sinking  into  exercise  of  soul  that 
the  King  may  be  kept  faithful  to  that  renewed  visitation  of 
the  Divine  love  which  has,  I  am  certain,  been  granted  him 
in  this  time  of  sorrow  at  his  mother's  death,  and  in  the 
realization  of  the  responsibilities  that  rest  on  him.  As  we 
do  this  we  help  him  to  build  for  eternity ./" 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  DOUKHOBORS- SECOND  JOURNEY  TO  RUSSIA. 

DURING  his  journey  with  Joseph  Neave  in  the  south 
of  Russia,  John  Bellows— as  his  letters  have  shown 
— had  occasionally  come  into  contact  with  communities  of 
a  sect  known  as  the  Doukhobors,  peasant  farmers  for  the 
most  part,  who  were  then  living  in  peace  and  comfort  in 
their  villages  in  the  Trans-Caucasus.  The  history  of  this 
sect  having  been  fully  dealt  with  elsewhere,"^  it  is  only 
necessary  to  tell  here  as  much  of  it  as  concerned  the  work 
of  John  Bellows  and  his  colleagues.  During  the  year  1895, 
rumours  reached  him  from  some  of  his  Russian  friends 
that  the  Doukhobors  were  suffering  extreme  persecution 
for  their  refusal  to  bear  arms,  owing  to  a  return  to  their 
foundation  principle  that  all  war  is  wrong.  As  this  belief 
is  shared  by  Friends,  their  sympathy  and  interest  were 
soon  roused  on  behalf  of  these  suffering  people. 

The  knowledge  of  the  persecution  was  not  limited 
however  to  the  Society  of  Friends,  or  to  Russian  sym- 
pathizers with  the  Doukhobors,  for  in  the  autumn  of  the 
same  year,  1895,  a  letter  from  Count  Tolstoi  appeared  in 
the  '  Times,'  calling  public  attention  to  it. 

Little  could  be  done  for  them  until  1898,  when,  in  the 
spring  of  that  year,  they  obtained  permission  from  the 
Tsar  to  leave  Russia,  on  the  condition  that  they  were 
never  to  return.  Steps  were  then  taken,  as  quickly  as  was 
practicable,  for  their  emigration  ;  the  Society  of  Friends 
making  itself  more  immediately  responsible  for  a  group 

*See,  especially,  "The  Doukhobors,"  by  Joseph  Elkinton,  and 
"Christian  Martyrdom  in  Russia,"  by  Vladimir  Tchertkoff. 


THE  DOUKHOBORS  319 

of  eleven  hundred  of  the  poorest.  These,  however,  in 
spite  of  their  poverty,  had  saved  a  sum  of  money,  in  the 
hope  of  some  time  being  allowed  to  leave  the  country ; 
and  Cyprus  being  now  chosen  as  the  only  suitable  place 
which  their  means  would  enable  them  to  reach,  a  vessel 
was  chartered  to  take  them  to  that  island.  In  Cyprus  they 
came  under  the  devoted  care  of  Wilson  Sturge  (of 
Birmingham)  ;  but  the  climate  proving  unsuitable  for  them, 
further  funds  were  raised  by  the  Friends'  Committee,  of 
which  John  Bellows  was  the  *  clerk,'  to  remove  them  to 
Canada.  By  the  generous  co-operation  of  the  Dominion 
Government,  of  Russian  sympathisers,  and  of  Friends  in 
England  and  America,  the  whole  Doukhobor  community, 
numbering  more  than  seven  thousand,  was  eventually 
settled  in  the  North- West  Territories,  where  it  has  since 
attained  considerable  prosperity. 

John  Bellows  and  his  fellow-workers  were  always 
anxious  that,  as  soon  as  possible,  schools  should  be 
opened  for  the  Doukhobor  children  in  Canada.  He  lived 
to  see  only  a  very  small  beginning  made  in  this  direction ; 
but  his  daughter  Hannah,  during  the  last  year  of  his  life, 
volunteered,  with  his  full  approval,  to  go  out  to  them  as  a 
teacher ;  and  two  other  lady  Friends  have  also  joined  in 
the  work,  living,  like  herself,  among  the  Russian  settlers. 

To  Joseph  Neave,  Sydney,  Australia. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  24-11-1895. 
"  For  some  weeks  past  it  has  been  on  my  mind  to  send 
thee  a  few  lines  :  though  I  cannot  clearly  remember  at 
what  point  of  Russian  news  my  last  left  off  ?  In  any  case 
the  matter  of  the  Duchobortzi  has  occurred  since :  that 
is,  the  publication  by  Count  Tolstoi,  in  the  'Times,'  of 
nearly  a  whole  page  of  details  of  their  refusal  to  bear 
arms,  and  the  sufferings  they  had  been  made  to  endure  in 
consequence.  This  is  really  a  coming  back  to  the  original 
doctrine  held  by  their  body,  that  war  is  unlawful :  for  at 


320  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SECT 

the  time  of  our  visit  they  had  let  this  lapse.  In  fact, 
someone  told  us — I  think  it  was  Fast — that  at  the  time  of 
the  Russian  and  Turkish  war,  in  1878,  the  Russians  were 
very  largely  indebted  to  the  Duchobortzi  for  the  supply  of 
horses  they  needed  for  their  operations  against  Kars,  etc. 
There  was  one  error  in  the  account  written  by  Tolstoi's 
friend.  The  sect  does  not  owe  its  foundation  to  *  a  Quaker 
missionary  of  the  last  century,'  as  he  states  in  the  article 
I  posted  to  thee,  in  the  *  Times.'  There  are  some  MSS. 
at  Devonshire  House  [Bishopsgate,]  most  of  them  dating 
from  about  18 15,  which  give  an  account  of  these  people  : 
and  I  noticed  in  one  of  them  a  statement  by  an  Archbishop 
of  the  Greek  church,  in  which  he  says  '  my  acquaintance 
with  this  sect  goes  back  to  1768.'  It  is  evident  from  other 
allusions  that  they  were  even  then  long  established. 
Another  of  the  documents  says  that  they  began  with  three 
Cossacks  of  the  Don,  who  obtained  a  copy  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, which  they  closely  studied :  with  the  result  that 
they  found  all  war  to  be  incompatible  with  obedience  to 
the  Spirit  of  Christ.  They  did  own  civil  government 
however :  in  which  point  the  present  body  of  their 
followers  is  not  like  them.  They  were  placed  in  the 
Crimea :  and  in  the  time  of  Nicholas  I.  were  re- exiled  to 
the  Transcaucasus,  but  colonized  on  grants  of  land." 

To  Thomas  Hodgkin,  Barmoor  Castle,  Northumberland* 

Gloucester,  23-4-1898. 

'*As  the  Emperor  of  Russia  has  now  granted  permission 
for  the  Doukhobortsi  to  emigrate,  in  response  to  their 
own  petition  and  that  of  our  Meeting  for  Sufferings,  it  will 
be  needful  to  make  an  appeal  to  Friends  to  help*  these 
poor  people  to  a  new  settlement ;  and  I  have  thought  it 
would  enable  some  Friends  the  better  to  grasp  the  whole 
position  and  to  realize  the  claim  the  Doukhobortsi  have  on 

*The  words  in  square  brackets  in  this  letter  are  Vladimir 
TchertkoflPs  own  corrections. 


RUSSIAN   SYMPATHISERS  321 

their  sympathy,  if  I  were  to  describe,  in  a  very  simple 
way,  what  I  have  accidentally  come  to  know  of  two  or 
three  Russians  who  have  been  their  principal  helpers.  I 
say  '  accidentally,'  because  it  has  been  my  lot  to  be 
thrown  more  in  contact  with  them  from  having  become 
acquainted,  in  Russia,  with  Count  Tolstoi  and  others  with 
whom  they  have  been  acting  in  aid  of  those  who  are 
persecuted. 

"  Vladimir  Tchertkoff  was  a  nobleman  who  underwent 
a  great  change,  and  gave  up  the  bulk  of  his  property  and 
lived  much  as  a  Russian  peasant  would.  His  mother,  who 
is  an  exceedingly  nice  woman,  is  one  of  the  ladies  of  the 
court  of  the  Empress  Dowager.  The  course  her  son  had 
taken  was  a  bitter  trial  to  her ;  and  it  was  just  after  hearing 
her  speak  of  this,  and  realizing  the  suffering  so  inflicted 
on  her,  that  I  met  with  one  of  Vladimir  TchertkofiPs 
friends,  to  whom  I  said  something  expressive  of  doubt  as 
to  the  wisdom  or  the  right  of  his  doing  as  he  has  done. 
His  friend  replied,  '  /  said  the  same  to  him,  but  he 
answered  me  very  meekly  and  simply  :  '  I  don't  pretend 
to  lay  down  a  rule  for  others,  but  I  do  know  that  the  call 
came  to  me,  as  it  did  to  the  young  man  in  the  Gospel,  to 
go  and  sell  all  that  I  had,  and  give  to  the  poor,  and  to 
follow  Christ ;  and  I  obeyed  it."  I  felt  I  had  no  right  to 
judge  him  ;  and  now  that,  five  years  after,  I  have  come  to 
know  him  personally,  and  see  his  noble  and  sweet  and 
childlike  simplicity  of  character,  I  can  only  admire  and 
love  him  as  deserving  of  far  other  than  the  foolish  and 
superficial  judgment  I  had  passed  upon  him. 

"  When  Vladimir  Tchertkoff  got  to  know  of  the  terrible 
sufferings  of  the  Doukhobortsi — for  their  refusal  to  inflict 
suffering  on  others— he  took  up  their  cause  with  all 
his  power  [appealing  to  Russians  of  all  ranks  and 
positions,  and  also]  writing  to  the  English  press  to  ask 
the  sympathy  of  thoughtful  people  on  their  behalf.  For 
this  he  was  ordered  into  banishment  from  the  Empire.  He 
u 


322  FAITHFUL  TESTIMONY 

came  to  England,  and  is  now  living  at  Purleigh,  in  a 
small  farm-house,  which  has  been  a  refuge  to  several 
others  who  have  been  driven  from  their  homes  since  his 
arrival. 

"  One  of  these  is  a  young  Hungarian  army  surgeon, 
named  Skarvan.  He  was  within  three  weeks  of  the  ex- 
piration of  his  military  service,  when  the  light  became 
clear  to  him  that  to  kill  men  is  entirely  incompatible  with 
the  teaching  of  Christ.  His  friends  begged  him  to  keep 
on  as  he  was  for  the  brief  interval  in  which  he  must  serve  ; 
but  he  could  not  do  so  without  doing  violence  to  the  love 
of  God  in  his  heart,  and  the  love  of  all  men  which  springs 
from  it,  and  he  voluntarily  faced  the  unknown  sufferings 
of  a  long  imprisonment,  followed  by  incarceration  in  a 
lunatic  asylum,  rather  than  fail  in  his  testimony  to  the 
truth.  At  last  he  was  set  free,  and  he  went  [to  live  with 
TchertkofPs  family  in  Russia  and  accompanied  them  to 
England.] 

"  When  I  met  him  first  he  could  speak  no  English,  but 
it  was  impossible  not  to  feel  the  sweetness  of  his  spirit, 
even  when  no  words  were  spoken.  A  delicate-looking, 
singularly  interesting  young  man,  everybody  about  him 
was  drawn  towards  him.  He  occupied  his  time  working 
on  the  farm :  I  suspect  beyond  his  strength.  The  last 
time  I  was  at  Purleigh  he  was  lying  ill,  and  the  doctor 
said  he  must  soon  die.  It  was  very  touching  to  sit  by  his 
bedside  and  to  see  him  at  the  end  of  his  great  sufferings, 
with  the  Divine  presence  shining  on  his  countenance  as 
visibly,  it  seemed  to  me,  as  it  shone  on  the  face  of 
Stephen !  I  have  never  before  seen  so  remarkable  a 
degree  of  it,  anywhere,  as  in  that  little  room.  A  week  or 
two  before,  a  young  Georgian  Prince  had  come  there : 
drawn,  I  suspect,  more  by  curiosity  than  anything  else 
to  see  who  and  what  these  Russians  were  who  form  the 
little  group  of  refugees.  Be  this  as  it  may,  finding 
Skarvan  ill,  he  volunteered  to  sit  up  with  him  at  nights  ; 


EXILES  323 

and  the  effect  of  being  in  his  company  has  been  very 
powerful  upon  him.  It  has  evidently  shown  him  the 
realities  of  a  Power  to  which  he  had  been  much  a  stranger, 
and  will  leave  a  mark  upon  him  that  will  not  pass  away. 

"  The  latest  comer  to  the  little  group,  except  this 
Georgian,  is  X.,  from  Moscow.  For  some  time  he  had 
been  [a  friend  of]  Tolstoi,  and  through  Tolstoi  he  became 
interested  in  behalf  of  the  Stundists  and  the  Doukhobortsi, 
sending  them  monetary  help,  and  in  a  variety  of  ways 
showing  them  sympathy  in  their  trials.  Last  year  a  party 
of  thirty-two  of  the  young  men  who  had  refused  the  con- 
scription were  on  their  way  to  punishment  in  far  Eastern 
Siberia.  One  of  them  fell  ill  in and  X.  was  watch- 
ful over  his  comfort  till  he  died.  He  passed  away  in 
great  peace,  impressing  all  those  about  him  by  the 
patience  and  tenderness  of  his  spirit.  The  rest  of  the 
gang  were  sent  on  to  Yakoutsk,  and  they,  too,  won  the 
regard  of  officers  and  soldiers  in  charge  by  their  gentle- 
ness, and  the  more  than  willingness  to  perform  their  daily 
tasks  as  convicts— such  as  cleaning  their  prison  cells— 
and  the  like. 

"  And  here  I  must  remark  that  none  of  the  people  of 
whom  I  am  writing  {i.e.^  the  Doukhobortsi)  are  very  en- 
lightened as  to  doctrines.  Measured  by  this  standard 
they  would  have  to  be  classed  as  ignorant— some  of  them 
in  the  extreme  of  ignorance— for  they  have  not  had  teach- 
ing ;  but  measured  by  their  faithfulness  to  the  one  point 
that  has  been  shown  them — the  duty  of  loving  all  men — 
they  have  attained  a  high  degree  of  perfection.  I  say 
this  because  we  are  all  apt  to  judge  those  who  differ  from 
us  in  important  doctrines.  We  are  narrower  than  the 
Father  of  all,  and  need  broadening,  to  be  just  to  those 
whom  He  has  accepted,  but  who  have  not  had  our 
training. 

"X.  was  summoned  to  Petersburg,  and  told  that  for 
helping  Tolstoi,  and  for  aiding  and  abetting  the  Stundists 

U2 


324  THE   NEED   OF  HELP 

and  Doukhobortsi,  of  which  the  police  had  long  been 
cognisant,  he  must  at  once  quit  Russia  ! 

"  To  most  men,  so  sudden  a  plunge  from  influence  and 
comparative  wealth,  to  poverty,  with  a  wife  and  five  little 
children,  in  a  land  whose  language  he  could  not  speak, 
would  mean  very  great  despondency,  if  not  blank  despair ! 
Not  so  to  X.  Instantly  setting  to  work  to  master  English, 
he  already,  in  less  than  six  months,  speaks  and  writes 
it  intelligibly,  though  not  grammatically  ;  and  at  the 
same  time  he  has  been  learning  type  composing  [in 
order  to  manage  a  Russian  printing  undertaking  his  friend 
Tchertkoff  has  planned,  and  for  which  he  receives]  ;^5  or 
;£6  a  month  to  maintain  his  family.  When  I  found  this,  I 
invited  him  down  to  Gloucester,  to  be  shown  some  of  the 
technical  details  he  would  need ;  and  he  came  for  a  few 
days — not  liking  to  leave  his  wife,  who  cannot  speak  our 
language,  for  a  longer  time.  I  can  only  say  we  have  all 
been  deeply  impressed  by  his  quiet  courage  and  sweet 
spirit.  No  one  would  for  a  moment  suspect  the  tre- 
mendous trial  through  which  he  is  passing.  So  far  from 
hinting  a  complaint,  or  a  murmur,  he  is  as  cheerful  and 

*  all  there  '  as  if  everything  were  sunshine  about  him. 
■X-  *  *  *  * 

'  *  This  is  a  long  letter,  but  I  have  felt  bound  to  put 

enough  of  the  story  of  these  men  before  Friends  to  show 
who  and  what  they  are  who  have  been  raised  up  to  help 
the  Doukhobortsi,  and  who  now  have  to  give  place  to  us 
to  carry  on  that  help,  while  they  have  to  share  the  suffer- 
ing in  their  own  persons  that  they  have  hitherto  been 
relieving  ;  and  I  feel  confident  that  the  Society  of  Friends 
will  do  its  part  in  this  emergency,  and  gladly  do  it.  The 
emigration  cannot  fail  to  bring  the  testimony  against  war 
before  the  world  in  a  new  form.  Comparatively  few 
even  of  those  who  are  Christians  can  really  sympathise 
with  it ;  but  all  can  understand  and  may  be  influenced 
in  measure  by  the  object  lesson  summed  up  in  the  words— 
'  How  these  Christians  love  one  another.' " 


DOUKHOBORS  IN  CYPRUS  325 

During  their  settlement  in  the  island,  the  '  Cyprus ' 
group  of  Doukhobors  were  located  principally  upon  two 
farms,  Pergamo  and  Athalassa,  where  they  were  prac- 
tically dependent  on  the  generosity  of  their  friends,  for 
their  own  means  were  by  this  time  exhausted.  The  scene 
described  in  the  following  letter  was  the  removal  of  a 
large  party  of  them  from  Lamaka,  the  port  of  landing, 
to  Athalassa. 

To  William  Holland^  Norquay,  Manitoba 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  14-9-1898 
*'  A  telegram  has  just  come  from  Wilson  Sturge  to  say 
he  has  bought  a  farm  called  Pergamo  for  ;£"38o,  and  that  all 
the  Duchobors  have  now  moved  from  Larnaka.  That  is, 
I  take  it,  all  the  11 26  are  now  settled  on  some  land. 
Pergamo  is  about  ten  miles  on  the  road  from  Lamaka  to 
Famagusta. 

"Birukoff,  who  is  with  Wilson  Sturge,  was  a  writer  of 
articles  in  some  of  the  Russian  papers  :  a  friend  of  Tolstoi's. 
He  has  a  very  capital  power  of  description.  Here  is  his 
accoimt  of  the  march  to  Athalassa.  His  delight  at  being 
able  to  command  a  policeman  instead  of  being  dogged  by 
one  is  amusing ! 

'  I  am  again  at  Larnaka,  having  returned  from  a  journey 
*  to  Nicosia  and  Athalassa,  where  I  have  established  272 
'Duchobors.  The  transport  was  accomplished  quite 
'successfully.  We  marched  the  whole  night  with  a 
'  caravan  of  wagons  stretching  several  versts.  It  was 
'  a  splendid  moonlight  night :  warm  :  quiet.  I  rode  up 
'  and  down  the  caravan  accompanied  by  a  mounted 
'  policeman  whom  the  Governor  gave  me,  and  kept 
'  things  in  order.  The  journey  was  quite  a  fairy  dream. 
'  Amid  the  wild  barren  scenery  of  Cyprus  in  a  moon- 
'  light  night  are  advancing  wagons  harnessed  with 
'  bullocks  and  mules,  laden  with  the  Duchobors'  baggage, 
'  women  and  children.  The  men  and  strong  women  are 
'  advancing  in  small  groups  between  the  wagons ;  some 


326  ATHALASSA 

'  singing  hymns.  We  meet  on  the  way  caravans  of 
'  camels  with  bells,  and  Arabs  swaying  on  the  top. 
'  And  lo  !  I  am  riding  about  as  a  kind  of  commander  of 
'  this  our  caravan,  and  with  a  policeman  attached  to  my 
'  person,  whom  I  send  to  and  fro  ;  and  he  saying  '  Yes 
'  Sir ! '  gallops  away  at  full  speed  either  to  one  end  or 
'  the  other  of  the  caravan  to  stop  or  hurry  on  the  pro- 
'  cession.  This  policeman  is  not  attached  to  me  to 
'  dodge  my  steps  or  to  catch  either  me  or  a  Duchobor, 
'  but  on  the  contrary  to  afford  us  every  kind  of  help  in 
'  our  relations  with  the  local  inhabitants,  chiefly  by  the 
'  language,  which  he  chatters  in,  while  he  understands 
'  a  little  English. 

'So  we  march  on  one  hour — another — and  a  third. 
'  Midway  we  make  a  halt  of  three  hours,  and  the  bullocks 
'  are  fed.  Notwithstanding  it  is  night  the  inhabitants 
'  of  the  locality  turn  out  to  gaze  at  the  unusual  sight. 
'  Then  we  gradually  crawl  on  further.  I  ride  on  with 
'  the  safli  (policeman)  to  meet  the  Duchobors  at  their 
'  destination.  We  get  to  a  turning  off  the  high  road, — 
'  go  along  it,  and  see  in  the  moonlight  in  the  distance  an 
'  oasis — the  tops  of  palms  and  shining  white  walls  of 
'  buildings.  This  is  Athalassa.  The  nearer  we  approach, 
'  the  thicker  and  more  varied  becomes  the  vegetation : 
'  we  see  cotton  plantations,  groups  of  olive  trees, 
'bulrushes,  etc.,  and  the  palms  become  grander  and 
'  finer.  I  perceive  bunches  of  dates  upon  them  which  I 
'  long  to  eat :  but  they  are  not  yet  ripe  :  and  they  are  too 
'  high.  At  last  we  ride  up  to  the  house  itself:  we  ascend 
'  a  little  hillock  and  hear  the  trickling  of  a  stream.  The 
'  wagons  drive  up  one  at  a  time  ;  and  by  nine  in  the 
'  morning  on  the  banks  of  the  stream  were  already 
'pitched  twenty-five  tents,  and  the  people  actively 
'  moving  about  among  them. 

'The  place  is  beautiful,  and  I  hope  the  Duchobors 
'  will  settle  in  it  permanently.'  " 


EMIGRATION  TO  CANADA  327 

To  Joseph  Neave,  Sydney,  Australia. 

Gloucester,  27-10-1898. 

"  Again  and  again  I  have  been  hoping  for  time  to  write 
thee — but  the  crowd  of  correspondence  that  comes  on  me 
as  clerk  of  the  Doukhobortsi  Committee  keeps  putting  ofif 
the  leisure  f     *    *    * 

"  The  Canadian  Government,  on  behalf  of  the  Doukho- 
bortsi, promise  a  very  large  grant  of  land,  with  advance 
of  seed  and  implements,  and  several  other  privileges. 
The  cost,  even  with  all  this  help,  for  a  large  number  will 
be  of  course  very  great,  and  with  eleven  hundred  people 
to  feed  and  find  land  for  in  Cyprus,  it  will  be  impossible 
for  our  committee  to  undertake  more,  as  we  have  only 
some  ;£4,ooo  in  hand  at  this  moment,  after  the  expenses 
thus  far  incurred. 

*' Count  Tolstoi  is  very  earnest  to  go  on  with  the 
emigration  nevertheless,  and  he  has  imdertaken  to  write 
some  tales  and  sell  the  copyright  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Doukhobortsi,  though  he  has  never  done  such  a  thing 
before.  He  sent  his  son  Sergius  over  here  three  weeks 
ago  to  see  our  committee  about  the  scheme.  Sergius 
Tolstoi  gave  us  the  figures  of  funds  on  which  they  could 
reckon  —  first  from  some  of  the  Doukhobors  selling  their 
land,  etc.  (not  the  very  poor  ones  we  have  been  helping, 
but  some  not  so  stripped  of  all)  —  about  ^5,000.  Count 
Tolstoi  himself  could  add  ;£^3,ooo,  and  his  friend  V. 
Tchertkoff  about  ^700.  Roundly  speaking  they  expected 
the  cost  of  transit  from  Batoum  to  Quebec,  and  then  on 
by  rail,  to  be  about  ;^i  1,000  ;  and  we  decided  to  make 
them  a  grant  in  aid  of  the  balance. 

"  It  now  appears  that  the  cost  will  be  short  of  ;^i  1,000  ; 
but  no  provision  is  made  for  feeding  two  thousand  people 
during  winter  in  Canada.  How  this  will  be  managed  I 
do  not  yet  know.  An  extremely  capable  Russian  is 
seeing  to  the  steamer,  etc.,  and  securing  the  needful 
arrangements  for  health  on  board  ;    but,  at  the  moment 


328  CYPRUS  ABANDONED 

I  write,  the  matter  is  not  completed.  Prince  Hilkoff  is 
now  away  in  the  far-west  of  the  Dominion  looking  out  for 
land,  a  first  large  tract  which  was  agreed  upon  by  the 
Government,  not  being  found  suitable  for  some  reason. 

''I  have  much  more  to  write,  but  time  makes  it  im- 
possible as  the  Committee  work  presses." 

To  Joseph  J.  Neave,  Sydney,  Australia. 

Gloucester,  11-1-1899. 

"  With  regard  to  the  Doukhobors,  at  the  time  I  write 
a  company  of  them  are  on  the  Atlantic — perhaps  half-way 
across  to  Halifax— ^w  route  for  a  tract  of  land  granted 
them  by  the  Canadian  Government  at  a  point  that  lies  at 
the  apex  of  an  obtuse  triangle,  the  base  of  which  would  be 
Regina  on  the  west  and  Winnipeg  on  the  east.  Another 
ship,  the  '  Lake  Superior,'  is  nearing  Gibraltar  on  her  way 
after  the  first,  which  is  called  the  '  Lake  Huron.'  The 
two  together  convey  over  four  thousand  souls. 

"  We  now  find  it  will  be  needful  to  re-emigrate  the 
Cyprus  company  at  an  early  date.  It  is  a  weighty  under- 
taking to  look  forward  to  ;  but  the  way  will  doubtless  be 
made  plain  when  the  right  time  for  it  comes.  Meanwhile 
we  have  sent  two  Russian  nurses  to  Cyprus  to  take  care 
of  the  sick,  though  the  sickness  is  lessened.  Wilson 
Sturge  reports  that  the  seeds  he  has  had  sown  all  seem 
likely  to  produce  good  crops,  which  will  tend  to  help 
matters  somewhat.  The  growth  of  many  things  at  this 
season  when  the  rain  has  come,  is  exceedingly  rapid.  A 
lady  who  lives  in  Cyprus  mentions  in  a  book  that  peas  can 
be  eaten  four  weeks  after  they  are  sown !  Wilson  Sturge 
confirms  this,  saying  that  he  himself  has  had  some  that 
had  been  sown  a  month  previously. 

"  I  was  in  London  the  night  before  last  at  the  request 
of  the  Friends'  Quarterly  Meeting  lecture  committee,  to 
give  them  a  paper  on  the  Roman  origin  of  many  of  our 
homely  old  houses ;  for  our  pillared  market-houses  and 


SURVIVALS  FROM   THE  PAST  329 

such  old  inns  as  the  '  Green  Dragon '  used  to  be,  in 
Bishopsgate  Street,  with  galleries  all  round  a  court  or 
courts,  are  Roman  in  their  origin,  although  they  have 
been  several  times  rebuilt  since  the  fifth  century,  when  the 
Romans  left. 

"In  an  enquiry  of  this  sort,  where  one  looks  into  little 
things  as  a  clue  to  larger  matters,  one  often  comes  upon 
interesting  items  whose  very  lack  of  importance,  as  people 
generally  count  importance,  has  caused  them  to  be  over- 
looked. Thus,  we  find  our  very  old  gates— such  as  the 
'  Traitor's  Gate '  in  the  Tower  of  London,  the  Market 
House  Gate  at  Ross,  etc. — trellis-work  to  let  in  light.  In 
old  times,  before  glass  was  used,  trellis  filled  the  windows ; 
and  in  stormy  weather  it  was  screened  by  cloths  or  by 
shutters.  And  when  glass  began  to  be  used,  it  was  cut  to 
the  shape  that  people  had  always  been  accustomed  to  in 
the  '  lattice '  (lath- work.)  Hence  the  diamond  window 
panes  of  our  cottages,  as  well  as  in  ecclesiastical  buildings. 

"  But  even  the  angle  to  which  these  were  cut  was 
the  result  of  experience  and  of  rule  -for  I  got  two  photo 
slides  made  from  pictures  of  Greek  Temples  in  which  such 
lattice  was  used,  and  threw  them  on  the  screen  ;  and  then 
I  put  on  the  shadowed  lines  a  tracing  of  one  of  the  old 
window  panes  in  the  Crypt  of  Gloucester  Cathedral  (which 
also  happens  to  correspond  accurately  with  many  cottage 
window  panes,  such  as  that  of  Ann  Hathaway 's  cottage 
near  Stratford-on-Avon)  when  the  lines  exactly  fitted, 
showing  the  very  pattern  itself,  and  the  precise  angle,  to 
have  come  down  to  us  from  thousands  of  years  ago ! 

"  I  have  to  go  again  to  London  the  day  after  to-morrow 
to  join  a  number  of  Friends  at  the  Foreign  Office  in  a 
deputation  to  St  John  Brodrick,  the  new  Under  Secretary 
for  Foreign  Affairs,  to  urge  upon  the  Government  the 
need  of  putting  an  end  quickly  to  the  slavery  in  Pemba 
and  Zanzibar,  which  lingers  on,  notwithstanding  the 
Queen's  decree  against  it." 


330  SECOND  JOURNEY  TO  RUSSIA 

To  Joseph  Elkinton^  Philadelphia. 

Gloucester,  England,  19-8-1899. 

"  It  is  a  great  matter  to  get  the  information  our  son  is 
able  to  give  us  about  the  Doukhobor  settlement ;  for  our 
work  as  a  committee  is,  I  think,  by  no  means  near  its  end 
yet.  We  have  difficult  matters  to  arrange  in  Cyprus 
about  the  land  and  buildings,  getting  the  crop  sold,  etc.— 
and  then  in  Canada  there  is  the  claim  of  over  $5000  for  the 
quarantine  of  the  last  arrivals  from  Kars,  etc. 

''  These  last  Doukhobors  are  a  mixed  company — by  no 
means  of  so  high  a  standard,  on  the  whole,  as  the  previous 
immigrants.  Some  of  them  are  persons  who  forced  them- 
selves on  the  party  leaving  Russia,  although  they  had  not 
borne  the  testimony  against  war  themselves :  their  motive 
being  merely  that  of  getting  better  farms. 

"Still,  this  mixture,  while  it  tries  our  patience,  ought 
certainly  not  to  exhaust  it.  We  must  keep  steadily  on, 
doing  our  best  under  the  circumstances,  and  the  end  will 
be  right." 

In  December,  1899,  the  case  of  one  hundred  and  ten 
leading  Doukhobors,  who  had  been  exiled  to  Siberia 
before  permission  was  granted  to  the  main  body  to  leave 
Russia,  was  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  Society  of 
Friends.  It  received  their  warm  sympathy,  and  two 
delegates,  Edmund  Wright  Brooks  and  John  Bellows,  were 
appointed  to  convey  a  petition  to  the  Tsar,  praying  that 
these  exiles  might  be  permitted  to  join  their  brethren  in 
Canada.  The  errand,  however,  was  unsuccessful.  John 
Bellows,  when  on  this  journey,  writes  from  his  old 
quarters  in  St.  Petersburg. 

To  his   Wife  and  Children. 

Petersburg,  First-day,  10-12-1899. 
"  After  breakfast  we  came  up  to  our  drawing-room  and 
sat  down  by  the  open  English  fire  for  our  meeting.  We 
had  a  long  and  solemn  and  sweet  silence,  our  Heavenly 
Father's  near  presence  enabling  us  to  look  onward  with 
no  misgiving  whatever  to  the  weighty  matter  before  us. 
♦     *      *     I  cannot  describe  the   sense   of  the    Divine 


AT   ST,  PETERSBURG  331 

presence  that  dwelt  with  us,  both  in  the  silence  and  in  the 
utterance  :  and  the  earnest  desire  that  rested  with  me  that 
the  pure  will  of  God  may  be  done  in  the  carrying  out  our 
endeavour  to  help  the  poor  people  we  seek  to  befriend ; 
and  it  may  be  to  help  another  or  others  besides,  in  this 
land.  I  felt  it  an  unspeakable  favor  to  be  tendered  and 
made  small ;  and  instead  of  fretting  because  we  are  not 
Stephen  Grellets,  or  Daniel  Wheelers,  just  to  resign  our- 
selves into  the  hands  of  the  Almighty,  who  can  do  with  us 
and  with  all  men  whatever  He  wills  :  for  that  is  enough. 

"  Many  times  as  I  looked  from  the  windows  of  our 
Nordexpress  at  the  driving  snow  and  the  darkness  of 
the  wilderness  through  which  we  were  being  borne,  I 
realized  the  words  '  stormy  wind  fulfilling  His  word ' ;  and 
felt  assured  that  it  is  so  both  inwardly  and  outwardly,  and 
that  all  the  storms  we  pass  through  in  life  will  swiftly  be 
past,  to  give  place  to  the  great  and  never-ending  eternity 
of  rest  in  the  love  of  God ! 

"It  is  this  love  which  has  placed  us  in  one  group 
together  as  a  family,  that  we  may  be  helpful  to  one 
another  'in  the  way  everlasting.'" 

To  Francis  Michelle  Redruth, 

Petersburg,   17-12-99. 

"  The  railways  here  to  distant  points  are  not  like  ours  ; 
they  are  very  gingerly  affairs.  That  to  Archangel  from 
Moscow,  not  long  opened,  has  lost  a  big  piece  lately  from 
floods  washing  it  away  in  the  swamps  it  crosses.  The 
speed  of  the  train  there  was  never  above  ten  versts  an 
hour !  The  Trans-Siberian  line  is  so  enormously  long  and 
badly  built,  that  a  merchant  (the  foremost  of  the  English 
firms  here)  told  me  it  was  never  possible  to  trace  lost  goods 
from  a  train  upsetting  away  in  Central  Asia.  Long  before 
it  can  be  traced,  the  nomad  Tartars,  etc.,  have  carried  ofif 
bag  and  baggage  to  the  four  winds.  The  cost  is  £,^  for 
freight  for  £^j^  worth  of  grain  {i.e.,  £,\  at  Irkutsk.)" 


332  AT   ST.  PETERSBURG 

To  his  daughter  Lucy. 

Petersburg,  18-12-1899 

"  In  the  afternoon  we  took  a  walk  for  exercise,  past  the 
Palace-quay  as  it  is  called,  where  the  Winter  Palace  and 
the  Embassies  and  other  grand  houses  face  the  river  Neva. 
A  crowd,  mostly  of  the  peasant  class,  were  standing  by 
the  guard-wall  of  the  River,  looking  up  at  the  Palace  ;  and 
there  in  the  first  floor  window  sat  a  group  of  members  of 
the  Imperial  family,  I  suppose :  a  gentleman  with  stars  and 
ribbons,  and  a  lady  and  children  beautifully  dressed, 
forming  a  little  semi- circle,  looking  out  on  the  frozen 
river  and  the  beautiful  sky  behind  the  part  of  the  city  on 
its  other  bank.  In  the  street  were  numbers  of  carriages 
and  pairs,  with  the  most  lovely  horses :  elegant  sledges 
with  gorgeous  coachmen  and  footmen,  and  so  on  for  a 
mile :  ladies  of  the  court,  officials  of  rank,  and  lovely 
children  flashing  past  in  carriage  and  sledge  to  the  recep- 
tion, f^  *  *  I  find  that  we  did  see  the  Emperor  and 
Empress  and  the  three  pretty  little  princesses  in  the 
window  of  the  Winter  Palace  just  now. 

"A  couple  of  days  ago  a  gentleman  in  uniform,  with  a 
large  grey  beard,  dined  at  the  next  table  to  ours  in  the 
small  dining  room  of  the  hotel.  This  was  Admiral 
Makharoff,  the  designer  of  the  great  Ice-breaker  we  see 
in  the  Neva.  It  is  a  three-funnel  steamer  of  8,000  tons, 
and  just  rides  on  to  the  ice,  and  bears  it  down  by  sheer 
weight !    It  smashes  eight  feet  thick  of  it." 

To  his   Wife. 

Petersburg,  23-12-1899. 
"  We  have  done  our  very  best ;  but  it  seems  that 
success  must  not  follow  our  efforts  at  present.  It  may 
come  later  ;  but  the  future  is  hid  from  us.  It  is  a  sharp 
trial  of  faith  ;  but  all  I  can  do  is  to  endeavour  not  to  cast 
it  away  utterly.  Looking  back  on  each  step  we  have 
taken,  I  cannot  see  that  we  could  have  done  anything  else. 


ST.  PETERSBURG  —  MOSCOW  333 

I  could  not  have  refused  to  come,  without  a  distinct  feel- 
ing of  resisting  or  overriding  a  true  call :  and  yet  here  we 
are,  unsuccessful  in  the  accomplishing  of  our  aim." 

To  his  Wife. 

Petersburg,  25-12-99. 

"  We  had  an  interesting  brief  call  this  evening  from  a 
lady  of  the  landed  class  whose  memory  goes  back  fifty  or 
sixty  years,  when  the  usual  run  from  here  to  Moscow  took 
three-and-a-half  days,  travelling  day  and  night  by  sledge ! ! 
At  the  time  she  was  married,  when  her  husband  had  large 
numbers  of  serfs  on  his  estates  in  the  South,  there  used  to 
be  a  regular  day  in  each  week  for  flogging  both  men  and 
women  who  had  offended  the  manager  or  overseer.  The 
sight  and  hearing  of  such  torture  so  affected  our  hostess 
that  she  was  continually  crying  ;  and  her  husband  on  this 
account  had  the  flogging  day  done  away  with !  " 

To  his  daughter  Dorothy. 

Petersburg,  28-12-1899. 

"  I  wish  you  could  all  see  Moscow.  There  is  no  other 
city  of  a  million  people  at  all  like  it.  It  covers  miles  on 
miles  of  hills,  not  very  high,  but  some  of  them  steep  :  the 
largest  in  the  centre  being  the  one  on  which  the  Kremlin, 
or  fortress,  is  built.  It  is  a  town  in  itself,  with  walls  and 
gates  separating  it.  Below  it  runs  the  wide  River  Moskwa, 
from  which  the  city  is  named.  It  was  only  partly  frozen 
over  when  we  were  there  on  First-day ;  and  a  score  of 
men  were  standing  on  the  ice,  fishing  through  holes  they 
had  cut  in  it,  and  down  through  which  they  let  their  lines. 

**  Fancy  all  the  space  from  Gloucester  to  Cheltenham 
filled  with  hill  and  dell  covered  with  houses  of  all  sorts 
and  sizes,  most  of'  them  white  with  snow  :  and  a  dazzling 
sun  shining  in  a  very  pale  blue  sky  above  :  and  among 
the  houses,  gilded  spires  and  domes,  and  domes  of  blue  and 
green  and  crimson  and  all  colours  of  the  rainbow,  flashing 
and  shining  like  jewellery  :  a  stinging  bitter  cold  making 


334  COUNT  TOLSTOI 

one  muffle  into  one's  fur ;  but  a  freshness  and  light  feeling 
in  the  air  like  we  get  in  England  on  a  mountain  top,  enough 
to  make  one  sing  or  dance  with  delight.  But  the  singing 
is  all  done  for  us  by  the  bells  booming  and  tinkling  and 
chiming  amid  the  sh—sh—sh  of  hundreds  of  sledges  flying 
past  one,  and  the  clang,  clang  of  tram-bells  and  the  shouts 
of  ^Hif  Verrighee /'  (Hi  there,  Look  out!)— and  that  is 
Moscow." 

To  Joseph  Elkinton^  Philadelphia, 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  8-1-1900. 

"As  Count  Tolstoi  has  all  along  been  so  deeply  inter- 
ested in  this  migration  of  the  Doukhobortsi,  and  feels  so 
earnestly  for  the  Siberian  exiles,  we  arranged  to  go  over 
to  Moscow  and  see  him.  It  is  a  journey  by  night,  of 
thirteen  hours.  We  were  met  at  the  station  by  a  lady 
whose  acquaintance  Edmund  Brooks  had  made  during  the 
famine  :  a  friend  of  the  Tolstois,  who  introduced  us  to 
some  of  her  relatives,  people  of  liberal  views,  who  were 
sympathetic  with  our  effort. 

*'  We  dined  and  spent  the  evening  with  Count  Tolstoi 
and  his  family,  and  with  one  or  two  of  their  friends, 
including  the  mother  of  the  lady  just  mentioned.  Our 
welcome  was  warm  by  every  one  of  the  family,  who,  like 
all  those  who  saw  Joseph  James  Neave  and  myself  seven 
years  ago,  enquired  very  lovingly  after  him,  and  were  not 
a  little  interested  to  hear  of  his  being  in  America  now. 

"  I  have  been  unable  to  approve  of  some  of  Tolstoi's 
views,  or  of  things  he  has  written ;  and  yet  in  sitting  down 
by  his  side  I  felt  the  same  deep  and  precious  unity  of 
spirit  with  him  which  I  experienced  at  our  last  visit. 
Grasping  both  my  hands,  he  said  with  emotion,  *  I  have 
great  love  for  you ' ;  and  he  afterwards  adverted  to  that 
broadness  of  mind  which  enables  us  to  recognise  the  love 
of  the  truth  in  those  who  may  not  be  of  the  same  mould  of 
thought  as  ourselves.  Count  Tolstoi  was  earnest  that  we 
should  leave  no  possible  stone  unturned  on  this  errand." 


RETURN  TO   ENGLAND  335 

After  his  return  from  Russia  with  his  companion,  John 
Bellows  continued  to  give  earnest  practical  help  to  the 
Doukhobors  in  Canada  ;  and,  with  his  colleagues,  kept  in 
close  touch  with  everything  that  affected  their  welfare. 

To  Joseph  J.  Neave,  Sydney,  Australia. 

UpT^pN  Knoll,  Gloucester,  11-9-1900. 

"  Thou  wilt,  I  dare  say,  have  followed  with  interest  the 
account  of  the  visit  of  Jonathan  Rhoads  and  Joseph  S. 
Elkinton  to  the  Doukhobor  colonies.  One  item  in  it  was 
especially  cheering— that  a  letter  has  arrived  from  one  of 
the  exiles  in  Siberia,  to  his  mother  in  the  Prince  Albert 
settlement,  in  which  he  says  that  the  officials  have  informed 
them  that  twelve  of  their  number  will  be  at  once  freed.  *  * 

"  Last  week,  or  just  before,  Edmund  W.  Brooks  met 
with  some  Russians  from  the  Caucasus,  who;told  him  that 
ten  thousand  Stundists  there  were  making  enquiry  with  a 
view  to  emigrating  to  Canada.  I  think  the  number  must 
be  wrong,  for  when  thou  and  I  were  there,  and  saw  most 
of  the  exiles,  there  were  nothing  approaching  this  figure  ; 
and  I  do  not  think  any  vast  movement  of  persecution  has 
taken  place  since.  Indeed,  for  the  last  year  or  two,  we 
hear  the  Emperor  has  stopped  the  further  transportation 
of  Stundists  to  the  Caucasus. 

*'Thou  wilt,  I  am  sure,  recollect  our  visit  to  Kutais  to 
see  B.,  the  cheerful  but  visionary  man  who  had  been 
banished  to  that  spot.  Thou  mayst  also  remember  his 
socialistic  talk  with  Hermann  Fast  about  the  evil  of 
money,  per  se,  and  the  harm  done  to  the  human  race  by 
civilization ! 

"  *  I  thought  you  said  the  visit  of  these  friends  had  been 
a  comfort  to  you  ? '  was  Fast's  adroit  remark. 

"  '  So  it  has  been.' 

"*But  you  forget — How  could  they  have  come  here 
without  money?' 

"  *  Very  well !  They  could  have  walked.' 

" '  What !  Could  Mr  Neave  have  walked  from  Australia?* 


336  A  VISIONARY 

'*  This  upset  his  calculations  ;  but  in  a  few  moments  he 
said,  '  No  ;  but  he  could  have  begged  a  passage  ! ' 

"I  lost  patience  with  this,  and  asked  Fast  to  tell  him 
that  if  civilization  was  in  itself  such  a  wicked  thing,  we 
were  bound  to  get  rid  of  it  and  its  effects ;  and  that  as  a 
printed  Bible  was  certainly  a  product  of  civilization,  he 
must  begin  by  burning  his  Bible.  (I  knew  he  rightly  held 
it  in  high  esteem.)  He  winced  at  this— and  then  said, 
'  We  can't  be  consistent  all  at  once  ! '  '  No,'  1  said  ;  '  but 
we  are  bound  not  to  preach  any  further  than  we  are  con- 
sistent !  '  After  which  we  got  on  to  more  congenial  lines." 

Soon  after  their  settlement  in  Canada,  the  Doukhobors 
added  to  the  responsibilities  of  those  who  were  seeking  to 
aid  them,  by  their  refusal  to  register  their  births,  marriages 
and  deaths,  and  to  comply  with  the  Government  regula- 
tions in  the  matter  of  the  registration  of  their  lands.  At 
the  present  date  (1904)  these  difficulties  have  practically 
disappeared. 

To  Joseph  Elkinton,  Philadelphia. 

Gloucester,  England,  21-9-1900. 
"  I  know  it  will  cheer  Friends  to  read  an  extract  from 
a  letter  just  received  from  one  of  the  members  of  the 
Government  in  Canada,  bearing  out,  as  it  does,  what  I 
wrote  to  thy  father  a  few  days  ago  about  the  spirit  in  which 
all  the  officials  with  whom  we  have  been  in  correspondence, 
act  towards  the  Doukhobors.  Referring  to  the  objection 
raised  by  some  of  the  latter  to  comply  with  the  laws  about 
registration  of  land,  births,  marriages  and  deaths,  the 
writer  goes  on  to  say  : — 

'  While  of  course  the  Doukhobors  added  to  some 
*  extent  to  our  responsibilities  in  undertaking  to  adjust 
'  their  difficulties,  yet  as  far  as  I  am  concerned,  I  am 
'  only  pleased  to  be  able,  even  though  the  road  may  not 
'  be  smooth,  to  look  for  a  satisfactory  termination  of  the 
'  matter,  and  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  these  people 
'  will  become  very  creditable  settlers  in  the  country. 


THE  CANADIAN   GOVERNMENT  337 

*  It  will  only  require  a  little  leading  to  show  them  that 

*  the    Government    has    no  desire   except   the    public 
'  welfare  in  any  request  that  may  be  made  to  them,  and 

*  that  so   far   from  doing  anything  that  might   prove 

*  injurious  to  settlers,  the  object  of  the  Department  is  to 

*  further  their  interests  in  every  possible  way.' 

**I  am  closely  pressed  for  time  or  would  write  more; 
but  I  will  add  that  I  feel  no  fear  that  the  difficulty  about 
registration  will  disappear  with  a  little  timely  explanation 
which  our  Committee  is  now  preparing  to  ofifer  the 
inunigrants." 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

VISIT   TO    THE    UNITED    STATES  — PHILADELPHIA  — WORCESTER- 
BOSTON  —  PLYMOUTH  —  CONCORD  —  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY. 

IN  THE  summer  of  1901 ,  John  Bellows  and  his  wife  were 
able  to  carry  out  a  long- cherished  wish  to  visit  their 
friends  in  the  United  States  :  where,  moreover,  their  third 
son,  Philip,  had  recently  settled  as  an  engineer.  To  the 
Friends  in  Philadelphia  John  Bellows  was  bound  by  ties 
of  the  closest  religious  unity :  and,  in  addition  to  this,  there 
was  the  bond  of  a  joint  interest  in  the  Doukhobor  settle- 
ment in  Canada,  to  which  these  Friends  had  so  largely 
contributed;  whilst  in  New  England,  also,  there  were 
many  whose  friendship  was  very  dear  to  him. 

On  their  arrival  in  Philadelphia  they  were  privileged 
to  be  the  guests  of  Joseph  S.  and  Malinda  Elkinton, 
whose  house  became  a  real  home  for  them  during  their 
stay,  and  a  centre  from  which  to  visit  their  other  friends 
in  and  around  the  city. 

The  summer  of  190 1  was  an  exceptionally  hot  one  even 
for  America,  and  John  Bellows'  health  was  much  tried  by 
it.  He  soon  began  to  suffer  from  a  difficulty  in  breathing 
which  considerably  troubled  him :  and  in  order  to  obtain  for 
him  a  little  rest  and  relief  from  the  excessive  heat,  a  few 
days  were  now  spent  in  the  cooler  air  of  Niagara.  From 
Niagara  he  and  his  wife  proceeded  to  Worcester, 
Massachusetts,  where,  for  a  fortnight,  they  were  the 
guests  of  Senator  and  Mrs  Hoar:  and  in  the  congenial 
society  of  his  host,  John  Bellows  visited  places  whose 
names  with  us  in  Old  England  are  household  words. 


VISIT   TO   AMERICA  339 

During  this  interesting  visit,  John  Bellows  was  much 
gratified  by  receiving  the  honorary  M.  A.  degree  of  Harvard 
University,  which  was  conferred  on  him  for  his  French 
Dictionary,  and  for  his  essays  on  Roman  antiquities  in 
Britain. 

At  Harvard  he  and  his  wife  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting 
members  of  the  American  branch  of  the  Bellows  family, 
which  is  descended  from  one  John  Bellows,  who  as  a  boy 
of  twelve,  sailed  from  London  in  April,  1635.  I^  the 
sixties,  Dr  Henry  Whitney  Bellows,  a  distinguished 
Unitarian  minister  of  New  York,  on  a  visit  to  England, 
being  attracted  by  the  name  of  John  Bellows,  had  sought 
him  out  at  Gloucester :  and  it  was,  therefore,  a  great  satis- 
faction to  the  latter  to  meet  a  son  of  his  remote  kinsman. 

'  In  family  Bibles,  in  town,  provincial  and  state  records, 
and  on  gravestones  scattered  through  rural  burying 
grounds'  the  history  of  the  American  family  had  been 
stored ;  and  from  these  sources  it  has  been  gathered  into 
an  interesting  volume  by  Thomas  Bellows  Peck,  of 
Walpole,  New  Hampshire,  another  of  the  descendants 
of  the  boy  emigrant. 

A  second  visit  to  Philadelphia,  and  one  to  the  Whittier 
home  at  Amesbury,  brought  this  memorable  journey  to 
the  United  States  to  a  close. 

From  John  Bellows  to  his  Children. 

Pine  Street,  Philadelphia,  18-5-1901. 

"  It  was  an  interesting  run  [from  New  York  to  Phila- 
delphia,] some  of  the  scenery  very  much  reminding  one 
of  Belgium.  Arriving  at  Broad  Street  exactly  on  time  (as 
the  Americans  say)  our  luggage  was  taken  care  of  by  a 
colored  man,  to  whom  Joseph  S.  Elkinton  gave  the 
checks,  and  we  '  trollied '  to  Pine  Street.  The  streets  for 
the  most  part  strike  me  as  narrow :  even  Broadway  in 
New  York  looking  more  like  the  narrow  street  of  some 
German  city  than  one  that  is  really  *  broad,'    But  a  pretty 

V2 


340  PHILADELPHIA 

feature  of  the  Quaker  City  is  the  number  of  trees  every- 
where planted  along  the  side  walks  :  plane  and  poplar 
and  sycamore  predominating. 

"  325  Pine  Street  is  not  many  doors  from  the  last  tram 
line  we  used:  an  old  English-looking  brick  house  with 
white  painted  doors  and  window  frames,  with  three  steps 
up  to  the  front  door.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  street  is 
a  beautiful  old  burial  ground  of  one  of  the  oldest  city 
'  churches,'  where,  by  the  way,  Washington  had  a  pew. 
It  is  thickly  planted  with  trees,  now  brilliant  in  their  first 
spring  green,  and  between  the  foliage  of  which  a  lofty 
brick  tower  rises,  carrying  an  octagonal  spire.  The 
ampelopsis  climbs  to  the  very  battlements  of  the  square 
part,  and  the  whole  makes  ^  most  beautiful  picture.  They 
tell  us  that  on  moonlight  nights  the  effect  is  still  more 
charming  ;  [and]  there  is  an  old-world  beauty  about  it  that 
carries  one  back  to  the  days  of  William  Penn,  who  laid 
down  the  street  with  the  others  in  the  original  plan  of  the 
city. 

*'  I  need  hardly  say  how  warm  a  welcome  we  had  from 
the  household.  Invitations  begin  to  pour  in  on  us.  Joshua 
L.  Bailey  has  called  and  arranged  for  us  to  be  at  his  house 
on  Fifth- day  next;  and  we  go  this  afternoon  to  William 
Evans's,  at  Moorestown,  to  stay  over  to-morrow.  Yester- 
day afternoon  we  went  to  a  meeting  at  the  Friends'  Girls' 
School,  to  hear  something  of  Ramabai's  work  in  India  -  a 
Hindoo  girl  speaking  very  artlessly  on  behalf  of  it.  From 
there  Thomas  Elkinton  came  in  a  barouche  to  take  us 
a  drive  through  Fairmount  Park— a  most  beautiful  time 
we  had  ;  and  in  the  evening  George  Vaux  came  to  engage 
us  for  Third-day  night  at  his  house  in  the  country." 

To  Colonel  Carleton,  Norwood. 

325  Pine  St.,  Philadelphia,  18-5-1901. 
"Moorestown  is  the  residence  of  a  large  number  of 
Friends,  the  avenue  in  which  we  were  staying  being 


MOORESTOWN  FRIENDS  341 

almost  entirely  peopled  by  them.  We  have  nothing 
similar  to  it.  A  broad  drive,  with  avenues  of  trees  in  the 
first  brilliance  of  spring  green ;  smooth  lawns  on  either 
hand,  running  on  either  side,  continuously,  with  no  fences 
or  walls ;  and  villas,  some  of  wood,  some  of  brick  or 
stone,  standing  back  each  in  its  ornamental  garden,  and 
partly  hidden  by  the  forest  of  greenery  that  covers  every- 
thing. The  interiors  of  the  houses  are  furnished  with  a 
neatness  and  comfort  that  could  not  be  surpassed ;  and 
behind  them  again  come  lawns  and  gardens  merging  one 
into  another,  seemingly  without  end. 

"  In  the  evening,  our  host  and  hostess,  who  had  been  in 
England,  had  invited  quite  a  number  of  yoimg  people  to 
meet  us,  some  of  whom  had  travelled  widely,  both  in  our 
own  island  and  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  as  well  as  in 
Syria  and  Egypt.  In  our  own  family  circle  we  usually 
have  a  chapter  or  two  of  the  Bible  read  on  'First-day' 
evening,  each  taking  two  verses  in  turn ;  and  it  was 
home-like  to  us,  as  well  as  interesting,  to  find  the  same 
custom  here ;  and  the  whole  company  dropped  into  it 
naturally,  reading  from  I  Peter  ii.  on  to  the  end.  That  the 
elder  people  should  do  this  was  less  noteworthy  ;  but  the 
reverent  earnestness  of  the  young  fathers  and  mothers, 
and  of  the  bright  and  chatty  younger  men  and  maidens 
brought  home  to  one's  mind  the  conviction  that  here  was 
in  very  truth  a  community  with  whom  the  seeking  after 
God  and  purity  of  heart  was  the  main  aim  of  their  lives.'* 

Extracts  from  Letters  from  Niagara. 

Niagara,  7-6-1901. 
"  We  got  in  here  between  twelve  and  one  at  night,  and 
were  taken  to  the  Cataract  Hotel.  The  journey  had  been 
a  long  one  :  part  of  it — a  large  part — through  the  beautiful 
scenery  Willie  advised  us  not  to  miss.  Two  points  especi- 
ally struck  us.  Glen  Summit,  2,000  feet  above  the  sea,  in 
the  midst  of  wooded  hills  stretching  away  to  an  immense 
distance  ;  the  town  of  Wilkes-Barre,  below  and  four  miles 


342  SENECA  LAKE -NIAGARA 

off,  we  had  to  run  downhill  seventeen  miles  to  reach,  at  a 
workable  gradient !  After  this  we  ran  for  miles  along  by 
the  northern  branch  of  the  Susquehanna  River.  We  had  pre- 
viously kept  along  the  course  of  the  Lehigh  River,  which 
gives  its  name  to  the  railway — 'The  Lehigh  Valley'  line. 

"  The  second  very  beautiful  feature  was  the  Seneca 
Lake  by  sunset.  It  is  thirty-seven  miles  long— say  as  far 
as  from  Bristol  to  Gloucester— and  about  as  wide  as 
Windermere.  Here  and  there  lovely  gorges  and  woods 
run  down  to  it ;  and  much  of  the  land  on  the  side  on  which 
the  rail  runs  is  cultivated  for  fruit — peaches,  grapes,  etc. 
In  one  part  we  ran  through  a  vineyard  two  hundred  acres 
in  extent.  It  was  half-past  ten,  nearly,  when  we  reached 
Buffalo  city,  where  we  waited  an  hour  or  more  for  the 
train  to  Niagara  Falls. 

'*  The  Falls  themselves  are  not  to  be  described  by  any 
words,  nor  shown  in  any  painting  or  photograph.  To  get 
below  them,  on  the  little  steamer,  is  the  best  way  to  form 
an  idea  of  their  scale.  We  are  all  furnished  with  tarpaulin 
dresses  and  hoods,  and  stand  on  the  deck  in  a  storm  of 
mist  and  hammering  spray.  To  look  up  one  hundred  and 
sixty  feet  and  see  the  mighty  roll-over  of  the  mass  of 
emerald  green  water  against  the  sky-line  of  blue,  a  thou- 
sand feet  wide,  and  watch  it  always  plunging  down  into 
the  vast  sea  of  cloud  that  hides  the  river  where  it  strikes, 
and  have  all  the  hearing  filled  with  the  hiss  and  boom  and 
thunder  of  it,  nearly  stuns  the  imagination.  This  is  the 
smaller  portion  alone  of  it — the  American  Fall.  Half-a- 
mile  of  wooded  cliff  parts  it  from  the  Canadian  or 
Horseshoe  Fall,  which  is  a  curve  of  half-a-mile  in  outline. 
One  looks  on  for  hours — the  scale  never  lessening  but 
growing  on  one." 

To  his  Children. 
AT  Senator  Hoar's,  Worcester,  Mass.,  14-6-1901. 

"  Everything  here  is  so  full  of  interest  that  it  is  hard  to 
keep  pace  with  the  new  thoughts  suggested  by  each  place 


EXCURSIONS  IN   NEW  ENGLAND  343 

and  each  person  with  which  and  with  whom  we  come  in 
contact. 

"  Yesterday  we  had  a  delightful  excursion  to  the 
neighbouring  towns  of  Clinton  and  Lancaster,  going  to 
the  first  on  a  trolley  car,*  some  half-dozen  miles  through 
a  delightful  country  of  hills  and  woods,  past  the  new  lake 
that  is  being  made  for  the  larger  supply  of  Boston  with 
water.  **•>«•  Lancaster,  a  few  miles  on  from  Clinton, 
is  a  lovely  town  among  trees — all  the  place  buried  in 
greenery  and  flowers.  We  drove  past  it  to  see  a  vast 
American  Elm  :  a  splendid  tree,  the  trunk  of  which,  at  its 
smallest  circumference  below  the  bifurcation  is  twenty-six 
feet.  The  American  Elm  is  much  more  open  in  its  growth 
than  ours,  in  fact  very  nearly  like  our  '  Wych  Elm  * 
(Wych  =  wyke,  to  bend — i.e.,  the  bending  elm.) 

"Passing  a  sweet  old  burial  ground  on  our  way  back 
we  stayed  to  read  the  epitaph  on  a  descendant  of  the 
Pretender,  who,  after  years  of  wandering  over  the  world, 
attracted  by  the  quiet  beauty  of  Lancaster,  settled  here 
and  found  in  it  his  last  resting  place. 

"  This  morning  Senator  Hoar  took  me  to  Boston  :  your 
mother  coming  on  later  with  our  hostess  to  join  us  at  the 
Union  Club.     *    *    * 

''  Entering  a  carriage  we  were  soon  on  Boston  Common, 
where  two  hundred  and  thirty  odd  years  ago  the  four 
Friends  were  put  to  death.  It  is  not  a  '  common,'  but  a 
beautiful  park,  with  tall  timber  trees  and  grand  banks  of 
rhododendrons,  dominated  by  the  State  House  where  the 
Assembly  and  the  Senate  pass  the  State  laws,  etc.  We 
drove  to  a  burial  ground  where  many  of  the  great  men  of 
the  Revolution  lie  buried,  and  where,  too,  is  the  tomb  of 
Franklin's  father  and  mother.  Then  to  the  old  King's 
Chapel  with  further  grand  memories  ;  to  the  old  South 
Chapel,  now  a  museum  of  the  most  interesting  relics  of 
the  colonial  and  revolution  times  ;  to  Faneuil  Hall,  where 
*  Electric  tram-car. 


344  '  BOSTON 

a  canny  Scotsman  was  glad  to  hear  me  speak  a  little  of  his 
own  dialect ;  and  then  to  the  State  House,  where  we  went 
up  in  the  elevator  to  the  magnificent  corridor  leading  to 
the  apartments  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  to  whom  I  was 
introduced,  and  in  whose  office  we  were  to  wait  till  joined 
by  Ruth  Hoar  and  your  mother.  The  Secretary  of  State 
gave  us  some  interesting  details  of  the  procedure  of  the 
Parliament,  which  was  to  be  prorogued  that  evening,  they 
hoped." 

To  his  Children. 

Worcester,  Mass.,  16-6-1901. 

"  The  day  at  Boston  was  one  never  to  be  forgotten. 
We  are  now  far  enough  away  from  the  time  of  the  Revolu- 
tion for  all  its  sharp  lines  to  be  softened  down ;  and  the 
events  which  a  hundred  years  ago  were  the  subjects  of 
controversy,  have  now  passed  into  the  domain  of  history, 
as  full  of  interest  to  Englishmen  as  they  are  to  Americans. 
It  was  not  without  a  feeling  of  wonder  and  surprise  that  I 
came  suddenly  on  the  old  court  house  of  the  *  Colonial ' 
days,  with  the  royal  arms  of  England  in  their  full  glory  of 
painting  and  gilding,  on  the  summit. 

"There  is  an  antique  beauty  in  the  tall  many-storied 
houses  and  curving  narrow  streets  of  Boston— well  in 
keeping  with  the  romance  of  its  history ;  the  whole  effect 
of  its  color  against  the  cloudless  blue  of  the  sky,  and  of 
the  musical  roar  of  its  thronging  population,  presses  upon 
one's  spirit  like  the  embodiment  of  a  poem  too  vast  and 
too  vivid  to  be  expressed  in  words.  I  have  never  seen 
anything  more  magnificent  than  Washington  Street,  com- 
bining in  its  sweep  such  a  sense  of  the  ethereal  and  the 
material  in  one :  the  halo  of  its  history  resting  on  its 
stately  buildings,  gilding  them  as  the  sunset  gilds  the 
commonplace  dwellings  of  men  and  transforms  them  to 
that  which  is  unearthly  and  indescribable.  I  believe  it 
used  to  be  called  '  King  Street ' :  to  me  it  was  King  Street 
still,  and  it  always  will  be. 


BOSTON  345 

"After  a  brief  call  on  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts, 
and  a  visit  to  the  library  of  the  State  House,  in  which  we 
examined  the  precious  Bradford  MS.  that  Senator  Hoar 
brought  back  from  England,  where  it  had  been  ever  since 
the  Revolution,— and  a  look  at  the  Bunker  Hill  monument 
from  the  windows  of  the  State  House,  we  left  for  lunch  at 
the  Union  Club. 

"We  lunched  with  Chief  Justice  Holmes,  Samuel  Hoar 
(nephew  of  Senator  H.,)  Arthur  Lord  of  Plymouth,  Charles 
F.  Adams  (son  of  the  U.S.  Minister  to  London,  grandson 
of  President  John  Quincy  Adams,  and  great-grandson  of 
John  Adams,  who  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence,) 
and  Dr  Samuel  Green,  the  librarian  of  the  Historical 
Society  of  Massachusetts. 

"After  lunch  we  joined  the  ladies,  and  then  Chief 
Justice  Holmes  took  your  mother  and  me  to  his  father's 
old  house  on  the  River  Charles.  As  mother  will  describe 
this  visit  to  Kitty,  I  will  not  give  the  details  of  it. 
Armstrong  Howitt's  carving  of  the  city  arms  of  Glou- 
cester—taken from  the  Tolsey  at  the  time  of  its  being 
'  torn  down ' — is  built  into  the  mantel-piece  of  Oliver  W. 
Holmes's  room  overlooking  the  water.  I  ought  to  have 
said  that  we  had  passed  the  house  of  Prescott  the  historian, 
before,  i.e.,  during  our  drive  from  the  electric  station.  It 
is  now  divided  into  two— a  very  English  (*  Colonial '  they 
call  it  here)  house  in  its  appearance,  with  beautiful 
greenery  adding  to  its  effect.    *    *    * 

"Yesterday,  6  mo.  i6,  we  were  all  to  go  to  *  Redemp- 
tion Rock,'  about  fifty  miles  journey  from  Worcester,  to 
be  present  at  the  handing  over  of  the  Rock  by  Senator 
Hoar  to  his  grand-nephew,  John  Hoar.  The  225th  anni- 
versary of  [his  ancestor]  John  Hoar's  redeeming  poor 
Mary  Rowlandson  from  the  Indians  at  this  spot,  was  on 
the  25th  of  Fifth  month,  1901 ;  but  the  family  or  rather  the 
clan  gathering  could  not  be  arranged  for  at  that  moment, 
and  it  took  place  yesterday.     It  is  remarkable  that  this 


346  REDEMPTION  ROCK 

delay  enabled  your  mother  and  me  to  be  present  at  the 
ceremony,  to  the  great  delight  of  Senator  Hoar,  inasmuch 
as  we  come  from  the  very  place  where  John  Hoar  was 
born  (Gloucester,  about  A. D.  1600.) 

"  We  were  taken  to  Ayer  by  rail,  where  we  changed 
for  Fitchburg,  a  very  busy  manufacturing  town,  but  very 
prettily  planted.  Near  it  we  passed  Leominster — a  little 
town  situate  so  exactly  like  its  venerable  namesake,  that 
the  position,  backed  by  hills  as  in  Herefordshire,  must 
have  suggested  the  name.  At  both  Ayer  and  Fitchburg 
our  party  was  increased  by  other  kinsfolk  of  our  host.  At 
Fitchburg  a  special  electric  car  had  been  engaged  to  take 
us  to  Lake  Wachusett— some  seven  miles— along  a  lovely 
wooded  country  road.  We  were  now  thirty-six  in  number ; 
and  the  thirty-horse -power  motor  swung  us  along  over 
hill  and  dale,  and  round  curves  no  English  engineer  would 
venture  to  make.  The  car  is  speeded  for  thirty  miles  an 
hour.  It  won't  be  long  before  the  whole  country  is  net- 
worked everywhere  with  these  most  excellent  carriages. 

"At  Wachusett  Lake  we  changed  to  two  four-horse 
brakes :  and  in  two  or  three  miles  run  along  a  sandy  road 
through  the  forest,  we  arrived  at  the  Rock.  It  stands  just 
inside  a  field,  on  the  lower  slope  of  Wachusett  Mountain 
(2000  feet  above  the  sea,  at  the  summit.)  The  name  means 
Place  of  mountains,  and  Massa  (  =  great)  -chusetts  means 
Place  of  the  great  mountains. 

"  The  Redemption  Rock  is  a  mass  of  granite,  nearly 
flat,  about  forty  feet  by  twenty-five,  and  some  twelve  feet 
high,  or  more,  with  trees  round  part  of  it,  and  an  open 
field  at  back.  All  clambering  on  to  the  top,  we  stood  in  a 
group  while  Senator  Hoar  graphically  told  us  the  story  of 
the  capture,  and  redemption  of  Mary  Rowlandson  by  his 
Gloucester  ancestor  ;  and  at  the  conclusion  of  his  speech 
a  camera-case  was  brought  to  serve  as  a  table,  and 
Senator  Hoar  and  his  wife  signed  the  deed,  all  the  rest  of 
us  following  on  it  with  our  names,  as  witnesses.     George 


INTERESTING  CEREMONY  347 

F.  Hoar  now  called  his  grand-nephew  forward  and  made 
him  a  present  of  the  property,  which  he  had  purchased 
to  preserve  it  in  the  family.  John  Hoar  is  a  bright  boy 
of  nine.  Taking  the  deed  of  gift  from  the  Senator,  he 
said  in  a  clear  voice,  '  Uncle  Frisbie,  I  will  keep  this 
precious  deed  in  memory  of  John  Hoar  and  of  you.' 

** Again  taking  our  seats  in  the  *  barges,'  as  four-horse 
brakes  are  here  called,  we  were  taken  a  mile  or  two  up 
the  side  of  Lake  Wachusett  to  lunch  at  an  hotel  from 
which  there  is  a  splendid  view  over  a  plain  like  that  of  old 
Worcester  from  Malvern.  At  some  points  on  the  way 
we  had  a  fine  sight  of  Monadnock,  the  3000-feet  mountain 
of  which  Emerson  writes.  It  was  a  beautiful  steel- 
blue  in  colour  —  perhaps  twenty  or  thirty  miles  to  our 
north.    *    *    * 

"  A  grand  drive  down  the  moimtain,  another  flying  run 
in  the  electric  car  to  Fitchburg,  and  the  journey  by  rail- 
road back  to  Worcester,  and  this  most  interesting  day 
was  ended.  We  had  journeyed  about  a  hundred  miles  in 
course  of  it." 

To  his  Children. 

Worcester,  Mass.,  20-6-1901. 

"  On  Second-day  last  Senator  Hoar  took  us  to  Plymouth : 
about  an  hour's  run  from  Boston,  which  is  an  hour  from 
Worcester. 

"  As  we  approach  the  spot  where  the  Pilgrims  landed 
in  New  England,  it  is  interesting  to  note  how  many  names 
we  meet  with  that  recall  the  Devon  and  Cornwall  and 
Dorset  homes  from  which  some  of  them  came.  Thus, 
before  we  get  into  Plymouth,  we  have  Plympton  for  one 
of  the  stations ;  while,  a  few  miles  away,  we  have  Falmouth 
and  Truro  and  Wareham  and  Weymouth,  etc.,  etc. — and 
in  the  little  town  itself  one  of  the  family  names  that  we  see 
is  *  Cornish ' ! 

"We  were  met  at  the  station  by  Arthur  Lord,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Pilgrim  Society,  whose  members  make 


348  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS 

it  their  business  to  preserve  and  record  all  that  exists 
connected  with  the  Immigration.  A.  L.  drove  us  first  up  to 
the  great  National  Monument,  which  stands  on  a  hill  at  the 
back  of  Plymouth,  corresponding  to  the  *  Hoe '  in  the 
English  town.  It  was  a  lovely  day,  and  the  sapphire  blue 
sea  sparkling  in  the  sun,  with  the  blue  sky  above  it, 
might  have  been  the  Mediterranean  for  beauty.  White 
sails  dotted  it  here  and  there  ;  and  the  fresh  breeze  gave 
a  life  to  it  all  wonderfully  in  keeping  with  the  poetry  of 
the  place.  Across  the  bay,  on  the  left,  is  a  low  sandy  hill 
with  an  obelisk  on  it  to  Miles  Standish,  after  whose  place 
in  Old  Lancashire,  this  spot,  his  New-World  home,  was 
named  Duxbury.  It  was  this  rough  old  soldier,  I  suspect, 
who  had  the  lead  in  the  old-dispensation  way  in  which  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers  treated  the  Indians ;  for,  as  a  wit  has  put 
it,  '  they  first  fell  on  their  knees,'  when  they  landed,  *  and 
then  they  fell  on  the  Ahoriginees  /' 

'*  We  were  next  driven  to  the  '  church'  that  has  lately 
been  built  on  the  site  of  the  one  the  Pilgrims  first  built  in 
America.  Your  mother  will  tell  you  the  details  of  this 
interesting  part  of  our  visit ;  and  I  will  pass  on  to  the 
further  drive  down  to  the  shore  and  the  '  rock  '  on  which 
the  landing  was  made,  and  the  thanksgiving  oifered  for 
their  safely  effecting  the  transit  of  the  great  ocean. 
Plymouth  is  a  little  town  of  some  7000  people ;  and  like 
all  the  American  country  towns  we  have  yet  seen,  it  is 
beautifully  shaded  by  trees  :  most  of  its  streets  being  leafy 
avenues,  through  which  at  different  points  glint  bits  of  the 
blue  sea. 

"A  most  hospitable  meal  at  Arthur  Lord's,  and  a  sight 
of  the  '  grandfather  clock,'  which  is  such  a  feature  in  the 
American  homes  we  have  visited,  gave  us  an  hour's  rest 
before  completing  our  round  of  the  place  ;  though  I  ought 
not  to  pass  over  the  Indian  stone  implements  and  other 
curiosities  which  A.  L.  has  collected :  for  he  is  an  ardent 
antiquary. 


PLYMOUTH  349 

*' After  lunch  we  went  to  the  Pilgrim  Hall— a  museum 
of  documents  and  objects  collected  by  the  Society  for  their 
historic  interest.  I  was  allowed  to  hold  Miles  Standish's 
sword  (taken  from  its  glass  case  for  the  purpose)  as  well 
as  to  examine  many  other  articles  that  came  over  in  the 
Mayflower.  Time  would  fail  for  their  enumeration,  how- 
ever ;  and  I  must  pass  on  to  the  further  drive  we  had  up 
the  hill  at  the  back  of  the  town  :  this  time  to  the  burial 
ground  where  Governor  Bradford  and  others  of  the  little 
band  of  the  forerunners  lie  in  their  last  resting-place.  It 
is  a  site  of  touching  beauty ;  and  as  we  stood  on  the  edge 
of  its  steep  escarpment  looking  over  the  great  bay,  we 
could  just  discern  the  broken  outline  of  Cape  Cod  on  the 
horizon  thirty  miles  away.  It  seemed  hard  to  tear  our- 
selves away  from  the  spot ;  for,  as  I  ventured  to  tell  the 
little  group  of  people  near  the  *  church,'  no  American 
could  feel  more  deeply  the  emotion  stirred  by  its  associa- 
tions. We  agreed  that  we  should  like  to  live  in  Plymouth, 
if  we  were  to  stay  in  this  country :  but  we  have  said  the 
same  of  Moorestown,  and  of  Boston,  and  I  believe  we 
have  since  come  to  the  conclusion  that  we  should  choose 

Cambridge !  " 

To  his  Children. 

Narragansett  Hotel,  Providence,  R.I.,  27-6-1901. 

"  Such  a  pressure  of  events  has  been  about  us  for 
several  days  that  I  hardly  know  where  I  dropped  the  last 
thread  of  narrative.  On  Sixth-day  we  were  taken  over 
to  Concord— one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  the  New  England 
towns  :  perhaps  the  most  beautiful  we  have  yet  seen.  Hill 
and  river  and  woodland  make  it  exceedingly  romantic ; 
while  its  associations  with  R.  W.  Emerson,  Thoreau,  and 
other  literary  people,  besides  its  history  in  the  War  of 
Independence,  add  a  charm  to  all  this  that  it  is  difficult  to 
realize. 

'*We  were  met  at  the  station  by  Samuel  Hoar,  a 
nephew  of  Senator  H.     He  drove  us  to  the  scene  of  the 


350  VISIT  TO  CONCORD     ' 

battle  of  Concord,  and  then  to  the  lovely  burial  ground 
of  '  Sleepy  Hollow,'  where  Emerson,  the  Thoreaus, 
Hawthorne,  the  Alcott  family,  and  many  of  Senator  Hoar's 
family  lie  interred.  Emerson's  grave  is  marked  by  a 
great  piece  of  quartz  rock  in  lieu  of  a  tombstone,  the 
whole  ground  being  wooded  hills.  Thence  we  were 
driven  to  Walden,  the  forest  and  lake  which  were  the 
scene  of  Thoreau's  hermit  life.  A  young  engineer  has 
since  lived  in  the  same  spot,  in  the  like  fashion  :  not  from 
sentiment,  but  because  he  was  in  consumption.  The  open- 
air  life  in  Walden  woods  cured  him,  however. 

"Steep  hills,  covered  with  primeval  forest,  rimning 
round  a  deep  lake  of  half-a-mile  or  more  in  width,  are  the 
chief  features  of  Walden.  Thoreau's  hut  has  gone,  its 
site  being  marked  by  a  cairn  of  stones  put  there  by 
visitors,  and  to  which  we  added  our  share.  A  large  area 
of  the  adjoining  woods,  though  not  Thoreau's  part,  belongs 
to  Samuel  Hoar.  We  lunched  at  his  house,  and  had  the 
pleasure  of  the  company  of  Dr  Edward  Emerson  and  his 
sister  Ellen  :  son  and  daughter  of  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson, 
and  very  charming  people.  A  beautiful  garden  at  the 
back  of  the  house  runs  down  to  the  Concord  river— a 
stream  very  much  like  the  Thames  in  some  of  its 
reaches. 

"  On  Seventh-day  Senator  Hoar  drove  me  to  Holden 
and  Rutland— small  towns  to  the  north  of  Worcester,  and 
on  higher  ground.  At  the  first-named  we  made  a  brief 
halt  to  examine  the  beautiful  little  town  library,  and 
it  was  wonderful  to  find  a  building  that  had  cost  $50,000 
devoted  to  such  a  use  in  a  place  the  size  of  Painswick. 
Massachusetts  is,  in  the  matter  of  libraries,  at  the  head 
of  the  entire  world— for  at  this  moment  every  one  but 
two  of  its  between  two  and  three  hundred  towns  has  a 
substantial  public  library.  I  ran  through  the  catalogue  of 
the  Holden  one,  and  found  it  remarkably  well  chosen  as  a 
whole. 


HARVARD  UNIVERSITY  351 

"Rutland  lies  1260  feet  above  the  sea,  and  commands 
a  vast  landscape.  About  a  mile  below  it  stands  the  house 
once  occupied  by  General  Rufus  Putnam,*  which,  with  its 
hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  land,  has  just  been  bought  by 
subscription,  to  turn  it  into  a  national  monument.  Senator 
Hoar  has  bought  at  Worcester,  and  other  places  in 
England,  many  old  articles  of  furniture  to  place  in  the 
rooms  :  all  of  the  period  of  the  Revolution  or  somewhat 
earlier,  so  as  to  present  a  correct  picture  of  what  a  New 
England  house  was  like  in  the  earlier  days." 

To   William  Holland^  Norquay,  Manitoba. 

Providence,  R.  L,  28-6-1901. 

<<  *  -x-  *  Before  leaving  England  I  had  a  letter 
from  Senator  Hoar  saying  that  he  hoped  I  could  plan  to 
be  present  at  this  function  [Harvard  Commencement]  and 
adding  that  he  thought  they  might  give  me  a  degree  !  I 
at  once  wrote  that  I  did  not  want  to  put  myself  in  a  false 
position,  that  I  was  not  of  a  calibre  to  take  part  in  such  a 
festival,  and  must  therefore  decline  it.  Writing  the  same 
day  to  Andrew  White  (the  U.  S.  Ambassador  at  Berlin, 
whom  I  had  known  at  Petersburg  and  at  the  Hague,  and 
who  was  giving  me  some  introductions  for  this  journey)  I 
told  him  what  I  had  said  about  Harvard ;  but  he  at  once 
urged  me  to  go  there.     *    *    * 

"  Just  before  the  procession  formed  up  in  the  morning, 
to  march  to  the  theater  where  the  degrees  were  to  be 
conferred,  Senator  Hoar  came  to  me  and  said  I  had  to 
walk  with  him  (he  is  the  President  of  the  Alumni)  at  the 
head  of  it.  Of  course  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to 
comply,  and  so  we  set  out,  followed  by  the  Governor  of 
Massachusetts  and  the  German  Ambassador,  and  then  the 
Vice-President  f  of  the  United  States — President  McKinley 
not  being  able  to  be  present,  on  account  of  his  wife's 
illness.     Just  before  starting,  the  Chief  Marshal  told  me 

*  One  of  the  heroes  of  the  Revolution,      t  Theodore  Roosevelt. 


352  DEGREE  CONFERRED 

that  when  my  name  was  mentioned  by  President  Eliot,  I 
must  stand  up  in  my  place,  but  not  speak.  We  went 
through  a  double  rank  of  some  thousands  of  graduates,  to 
the  '  Theater,'  and  on  to  the  platform.  A  very  large 
number  of  the  ordinary  student  degrees  were  conferred, 
representative  batches  of  the  young  men  coming  up  as 
they  were  in  turn  summoned  to  take  the  sheaves  of 
diplomas  for  distribution  in  their  several  classes. 

"  When  the  honors  came,  two  or  three  others  and 
myself  were  recommended  by  the  Board  of  Overseers 
as  worthy  to  have  conferred  on  us  the  degree  of  Master 
of  Arts  ;  and  so,  nolens  volens,  I  found  myself  an  '  M.A.' 
of  Harvard  for  my  French  Dictionary  and  Roman  remains 
essays  !  I  had  no  idea  that  what  Senator  Hoar  hinted  at 
was  more  than  a  thought  of  his  own,  for  the  secret  was 
kept  from  me  absolutely.  I  find  my  wife  knew  it— but 
she  gave  me  not  even  a  suspicion  of  it !  " 

The  Whittier  Association  at  Amesbury  had  invited 
Senator  Hoar  to  visit  them  during  this  summer  of  1901, 
and  it  had  been  planned  that  John  Bellows  and  his  wife 
should  accompany  him.  Illness  prevented  the  Senator's 
visit,  and  John  Bellows  and  his  wife  went  alone,  being 
the  guests  of  the  Lady  President  of  the  Association,  in 
Whittier 's  old  home. 

From  Senator  Hoar,  Worcester,  Mass. 

Worcester,  Mass,  July  ii,  1901. 

'*  My  dear  Mr  Bellows, 

"  I  am  sorry  that  things  seem  to  go  wrong  a  little  as  to 
the  visit  to  Amesbury.  I  have  been  in  bed  since  Sunday 
night.  I  am,  I  think,  getting  better ;  but  it  is  not  now 
likely  that  I  can  make  the  journey  to  Amesbury  in  person 
for  at  least  two  or  three  weeks  to  come.  I  was  very 
much  affected  by  the  heat  at  Harvard  Commencement. 
But  I  felt  better  next  day,  and  on  my  return  home  took  up 
some  very  perplexing  work  which  had  given  me  a  great 
deal  of  anxiety,  and  kept  along  somehow  until  last  Sunday, 


AMESBURY  353 

when  I  went  to  bed,  and  I  have  employed  an  intelligent 
young  doctor,  whose  principal  prescription  is  that  I  shall 
mind  my  wife,  which  I  am  doing  with  a  meekness  and  do- 
cility which  would  certainly  commend  me  to  Mrs  Bellows, 
and  might  insure  my  admission  into  the  Quakers'  fold. 

"But  Mrs  Row  ell,  and  the  other  Amesbury  people, 
will,  I  am  sure,  be  delighted  to  see  you  and  your  wife,  if 
you  will  go  there.  She  knows  all  about  you  already. 
You  will  have  the  fullest  ojj^ortunity  to  see  Whittier's 
dwelling-place  and  to  worship  with  his  friends  in  the  old 
meeting-house,  and  to  see  the  green  where  it  is  proposed 
to  have  his  statue,  of  which  he  once  said  jestingly,  '  I 
suppose  they  will  put  a  graven  image  here.' 

"I  need  not  say  that  I  am  very  sorry  indeed  that  this 
thing  has  happened.  It  would  have  been  a  delight  to  me 
to  have  made  the  visit  under  almost  any  circumstances. 
But  it  would  have  been  a  special  delight  to  have  made  it 
in  Mrs  Bellows'  company  and  yours.  Be  good  enough  to 
let  me  know  whether  you  will  still  like  to  go,  that  I  may 
give  the  Amesbury  people  notice. 

"  I  think  I  am  enjoying  myself  during  this  little  sick- 
ness more  than  I  should  if  I  were  about  my  ordinary 
occupations.  I  am  getting  a  complete  rest.  The  ladies 
of  the  family,  while  they  affirm  a  feminine  authority,  yet 
do  it  in  a  certain  tender  and  deferential  way  which  is 
exceedingly  delightful.  We  have  lovely  cool  weather. 
So  I  lie  in  bed  and  croon  over  to  myself  the  old  hymn : 
'  Sleep,  sleep,  to-day,  tormenting  cares, 
Of  earth  and  folly  born.' 

**  Mrs  Hoar  has  gone  out  while  I  am  dictating  this  letter, 
or  she  would  join  with  me  in  love  to  yourself  and  your 
wife.  I  am  faithfully  yours,      George  F.  Hoar." 

To  his  son  Max  and  his  Wife. 

Amesbury,  Mass.,  21-7-1901. 
**  I  think  you  will  like  to  have  a  line  from  Whittier's 
house,    where  we   are  spending   our  last  First-day    in 
w 


354  WHITTIER'S  HOME 

America— a  quiet  and  sweet  spot  in  the  avenued  street  of 
a  country  town.  The  rooms  are  just  those  of  a  good 
Friend's  cottage,  plain  but  comfortable.  Ours  is  the 
guest  chamber,  next  to  the  poet's  own  bedroom.  I  can 
touch  the  ceiling  with  my  hand.  Two  windows  look  out 
on  the  street,  under  the  elms  ;  another  into  the  garden. 
The  little  parlor  downstairs,  in  which  Whittier  sat  and 
wrote,  looks  out  into  this ;  and  he  always  called  it  '  the 
garden-room.'  Outside  the  two  windows  is  a  bushy  rose- 
acacia.  *  *  *  There  are  many  trees— shade  being  what 
is  most  wanted  here— and  a  pergola  covered  with  a  vine. 
'*  This  morning  we  went  to  Amesbury  meeting— a  nice 
little  gathering  of  perhaps  forty  Friends.  Mother  sat  in 
Whittier' s  seat." 

To  his  son  John  Earnshaw. 

R.M.S.  "  Oceanic." 

"  Here  we  are  safe  on  board  this  gigantic  ship,  which  is 
really  a  palace !  I  could  not  by  mere  description  convey  a 
full  idea  of  what  she  is. 

"We  have  splendid  weather,  and  every  prospect  of 
a  beautiful  passage. 

"  I  feel  that  in  what  are  relatively  small  things  the  care 
of  our  Heavenly  Father  is  over  us.  It  seems  to  brighten 
everything  like  the  sunshine  that  is  now  above  us ! 

Extracts. 
**  The  Friends  in  and  around  Philadelphia  are  a  sweet 
and  a  dear  people,  whom  I  was  going  to  say  it  would  be 
impossible  not  to  love  ;  but  I  don't  know  about  that,  for  I 
never  tried  not  to !  The  meetings  we  were  privileged  to 
attend  were  favored  gatherings  ;  and  I  was  again  and 
again  impressed  with  regret  that  such  real  Friends  should 
be  separated  from  Friends  in  England  who  have  the  same 
aim  and  the  same  spirit !" 


"  I  am  greatly  interested  in  finding  the  Pennsylvanians 
using  Cornish  words  and  Cornish  intonation  of  voice. 


EXTRACTS  ^  355 

They  say,  for  instance,  a  house  is  torn  down  (which 
is  not  English  !)  They  have  told  me  when  I  have  once  or 
twice  spoken  in  their  meetings  they  have  been  struck 
with  my  tone  being  much  nearer  their  own  than  that 
of  English  Friends  generally  is ! " 


*'  I  must  not  forget  to  mention  the  wonderful  electric 
car  system  of  Boston.  I  know  of  nothing  like  it.  We 
descend  a  subway  in  the  Common  (Boston  Common,  like 
the  commons  of  other  American  towns,  is  a  Park)  to  a 
large  station,  from  which  the  electric  trams  run  to  all 
parts  of  the  city  and  suburbs.  The  rapidity  with  which 
these  vehicles  rush  in,  load,  and  fly  off  in  all  directions  is 
bewildering.  We  were  assured  that  it  would  be  far  more 
crowded  if  we  were  there  at  five  o'clock,  when  the  busi- 
ness men  are  bound  homeward.  We  waited  perhaps  ten 
minutes  to  get  the  Cambridge  or  Harvard  car.  In  that 
interval  the  cars  came  and  left  at  the  rate  of  514  per  hour ! " 

To  George  F.  Hoar  and  his  Wife,  Worcester,  Mass. 
Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  3-8-1901. 

"  Here  we  are,  back  at  home  again,  after  our  nearly 
three  months'  delightful  journey  in  your  land,  laden  like 
bees,  with  the  pollen  of  practical  information  about  many 
matters  in  it,  and  with  the  honey  of  the  friendships  we 
have  made,  and  deepened ! 

'*  Our  son,  with  a  friend,  ran  up  from  Philadelphia  to 
see  us  off  from  New  York,  which  we  left  with  almost 
the  punctuality  of  a  train,  to  dream  our  way  across  the 
Atlantic  on  our  floating  Island,  the  '  Oceanic  ' :  an  Island 
flowing  with  milk  and  honey,  and  producing  all  the  fruits 
and  grains  of  the  temperate  zone  and  the  tropics,  from 
Quaker  oats  to  oranges  growing  ready  peeled  on  forks, 
coming  into  our  cabin  in  the  morning  to  entice  us  out 
to  breakfast. 

**  On  that  voyage,  I  had  planned  a  round  of  work 
suitable    to   the    leisure    it   affords— letters   to   friends ; 

W2 


356  RETURN   HOME 

essays ;  dictionary  work,  and  more  than  I  can  now  even 
recall.  But  if,  on  land,  the  way  to  ruin  is  paved  with 
good  intentions,  at  sea  these  take  the  form,  of  clouds  that 

disappear  day  by  day  and  leave  not  a  wreck  behind  ! 

*  *  *  *  * 

**  At  home  we  found  all  the  children  well  and  ready  to 
give  us  an  enthusiastic  welcome  back." 


CHAPTER  XVm. 

TRIALS  OF  FAITH— TOLSTOI'S  "  RESURRECTION  "—LAKE  DISTRICT- 
CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  SENATOR  HOAR  —  THE  DIVINITY  OF 
CHRIST. 

THE  return  voyage  from  America  at  the  end  of  July, 
1 901,  was  a  favourable  one,  and  John  Bellows* 
health  appeared  to  benefit  by  it;  but  the  improvement, 
alas!  was  not  permanent.  After  his  return  home  his 
books  and  his  correspondence  with  his  friends  were  still 
a  continual  source  of  pleasure  to  him  ;  but  his  energies  in 
other  directions  had  gradually  to  be  much  curtailed. 

To  Colonel  Carleton,  Norwood. 

Gloucester,  23-8-1901. 

"  Two  of  my  sons  are  gone  to  the  Tyrol  for  a  walking 
tour  among  the  mountains — good  healthful  work  if  the 
weather  keeps  fine.  As  I  was  seeing  them  off  at  the 
station  yesterday,  a  large  number  of  little  East- end  chil- 
dren came  from  the  Hereford  train  to  go  back  to  London 
after  a  fortnight  in  the  country.  It  was  interesting  and 
amusing  to  see  the  rush  and  excitement  among  them.  All 
carried  bags  or  packets — some  of  carrots,  potatoes,  wild 
flowers,  grass,  corn — an  *  omnium  gatherum '  of  the  most 
heterogeneous  description.  About  nine  hundred  go  through 
here  per  fortnight.  These  all  looked  in  the  most  vigorous 
health,  bronzed  and  full  of  colour  in  their  faces. 

'*  Some  weeks  ago  one  of  my  nieces  wrote  to  her  cousin 
Marian  to  get  some  buns  and  milk  for  fourteen  of  these 
East-end  children  who  would  be  at  Gloucester  station 
en  route  for  Raglan.     Marian,  unable   to  come   in  that 


358  FAITH  IN   THE  PRESENT 

morning,  asked  our  old  artillery  sergeant  to  do  it  for  her. 
He  found  he  had  twenty-seven  to  feed,  but  did  the  best  he 
could.  In  course  of  a  few  days  it  transpired  that  he  had 
missed  the  Raglan  contingent  and  fed  the  wrong  children ! 
**A  clergyman's  daughter  at  Newport,  Essex,  tells  us 
that  the  only  complaint  that  such  little  visitors  make  is 
that  country  eggs  are  not  right.  '  They  have  not  the 
London  flavour.'' " 

To   William  Holland^  Norquay,  Manitoba. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  28-9-1901. 

"I  entirely  agree  with  what  thou  sayest  about  our 
making  the  most  of  our  health  and  of  our  influence  of  all 
sorts,  including  that  which  may  come  to  us  with  money. 
As  to  the  latter,  a  natural  indolence  keeps  making  me 
wish  I  had  enough  to  escape  anxiety  that  often  weights 
me ;  but  it  is  a  short-sighted  wish.  The  truth  is  that, 
shift  the  burden  as  we  may,  there  is  a  continual  need 
of  our  exercising  faith  in  the  present  care  and  goodness  of 
God,  and  in  His  present  willingness  to  help  us.  No  day 
dawns  on  us  in  which  the  need  of  His  help  does  not  exist ; 
and  it  is  well  that  need  should  come  home  to  us  prac- 
tically. A  living  dog  is  better  than  a  dead  lion ;  and 
a  trust  in  a  power  that  can  help  me  through  a  worry  or  a 
dilemma  in  my  day's  work  is  infinitely  more  to  me  than 
knowing  or  believing  something  about  the  help  Abraham 
or  Moses  had  at  some  remote  time,  and  in  other  far 
different  circumstances.  It  is  the  now  that  tries  the  faith 
that  is  the  gift  of  God  to  every  human  soul;  and  the 
now  that  is  the  time  of  the  victory  that  overcomes  the 
world. 

"  My  trial,  at  the  moment  I  write,  is  not  to  give  way  to 
fretting  because  I  am  laid  on  the  shelf  by  my  illness,  for 
I  am  writing  this  letter  in  bed.  I  often  smile  as  I  recall 
the  visit  of  a  young  fellow  who  was  once  in  my  employ, 
named  Latimer.     He  came  over  to  see  me  at  home,  at 


LATIMER  359 

Churcham,  and  introduced  his  errand  by  saying,  *The 
Apostle  Paul  says,  sir,  that  we  must  always  do  the  best 
we  can  for  ourselves  ;  so  I  have  come  over  to  see  if  you 
can't  give  me  a  rise  of  wages  ? '  I  rather  think  that  the 
Apostle  Paul  had  no  right  to  interfere  between  Latimer 
and  me  in  this  particular  ;  but  notwithstanding  the  oddity 
of  the  way  it  was  put,  there  is  a  solid  truth  at  the  bottom 
of  it— for  to  '  do  the  best  we  can  for  ourselves '  is  the 
whole  duty  of  man. 

"  Latimer  left  me  some  time  after ;  and  when  I  again 
saw  him  I  asked,  '  Where  art  thou  working  now  ? '  With 
a  cheery  smile  he  answered,  *  Oh,  for  the  Army  /'  He  was 
on  General  Booth's  paper  in  London,  and  I  suppose  a  step 
nearer  to  the  Apostle  Paul  than  when  he  was  at  Gloucester. 
By  no  means  a  bad  sort  of  fellow." 

To  Stephen  Salisbury,  Worcester,  Mass. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  25-10-1901. 

"  Our  visit  to  Worcester  opened  up  a  new  world  to  me, 
that  is  seldom  out  of  my  remembrance  for  many  hours  at 
a  time,  and  it  always  feels  to  me  as  if  I  received  more 
from  it  than  I  can  possibly  repay  ;  so  that  it  is  a  real 
pleasure  to  find  that  friends  like  thyself  are  so  willing  to 
accept  what  I  write  !     *     *     * 

"  I  remember  Professor  C.  telling  me,  some  twenty 
years  ago,  that  a  quantity  of  wine  was  laid  down  in  the 
cellars  of  Charles  II.  in  the  year  of  the  Great  Fire  of 
London,  from  which  each  succeeding  monarch  had  drunk 
a  glass  once  a  year  on  the  anniversary  of  that  event. 
This  went  on  till  a  little  before  the  time  Professor  C. 
mentioned  it  to  me  :  Queen  Victoria  duly  taking  her  glass 
of  the  wine,  until  she  found  it  so  unpleasant  that  a  bottle 
of  it  was  sent  to  Professor  C.  to  be  analysed  and  reported 
on.  He  found  it  to  be  pure  vinegar— all  the  alcohol  having 
disappeared  ;  and  thereafter  the  time-honored  custom  of 
the  sovereign's  tasting  it  was  discontinued. 


36o  TOLSTOI'S  "RESURRECTION" 

"  I  suspect,  as  I  write  the  story,  that  had  it  fallen  to 
Thoreau's  lot  to  do  so,  he  would  have  added  a  reflection 
that  there  are  things  which  happen  to  us  in  life  of  which 
this  would  serve  as  an  emblem  :  that  which  has  been  real 
wine  losing  its  life  and  energy  by  lapse  of  time  and  be- 
coming mere  acid !       -^^      -^      -^^ 

"  I  seldom  find  much  worth  listening  to  in  formal 
sermons,  or  prayers,  or  graces  before  meat ;  but  I  am 
bound  to  say  that  a  word  spoken  by  the  Chaplain  at 
Harvard  Commencement  did  strike  me  as  very  real  and 
sterling.     He  prayed— "  Lord  give  us  simplicity  /'^ 

In  December,  1901,  John  Bellows  attended  the  Douk- 
hobor  committee  in  London  for  the  last  time,  his  failing 
strength  making  it  necessary  for  him  to  resign  his  position 
on  it  as  '  clerk.'  At  the  same  time  there  was  a  further 
and  painful  matter  which  he  was  anxious  for  the  committee 
to  settle  while  he  still  held  the  post. 

Some  time  before  this,  Count  Tolstoi  had  published  his 
novel,  "Resurrection,"  in  order  to  help  the  Doukhobors  by 
the  sale  of  the  copyright.  The  production  of  the  book,  in 
English,  had  been  jointly  undertaken  by  two  well-wishers 
of  the  Doukhobors,  who  offered  ;^  150  from  the  proceeds  to 
the  Friends'  Fund  :  and  this  sum  was  accepted.  At  that 
time  no  member  of  the  committee  had  read  the  book, 
except  John  Bellows — and  he  only  in  part — a  portion  of 
the  translation  having  been  submitted  to  him  for  technical 
assistance.  He  quickly  perceived  that  it  was  a  work  that 
he  could  in  no  way  encourage,  on  account  of  its  giving 
"too  much  detail  of  scenes  that  ought  not  to  be  reported" ; 
and  he  afterwards  blamed  himself  that,  knowing  this,  he 
had  not  objected  to  the  receipt  of  the  money  at  the  time. 
To  clear  the  Society  of  Friends,  however,  of  any 
complicity  in  countenancing  the  book,  he  had  meanwhile 
refunded  the  ;£"i5o  to  the  donors,  out  of  his  own  pocket. 

By  this  time  the  majority  of  his  colleagues  had  read  the 
special  parts  objected  to,  and  now  at  this  last  committee 
they  unanimously  agreed  that  the  money  must  be  refunded 
to  John  Bellows,  in  order  that  the  refusal  to  accept  it 
should  be  the  joint  action  of  the  committee.  This  was 
accordingly  done. 


ACTION   OF   THE  COMMITTEE  361 

To  William  Holland^  Nor  quay  ^  Manitoba. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  10-12-1901. 
"  *  *  *  Press  of  time  will  not  permit  of  my  enlarging, 
as  I  should  like  to,  for  I  could  jfind  much  to  talk  of; 
but  I  may  say  briefly  that  one  thing  I  had  to  get  through 
at  our  last  Committee  was  the  question  of  the  novel 
Tolstoi  wrote  to  help  the  Doukobor  migration  expenses — 
*  Resurrection.'  Our  people  received  £^\^o  of  the  pro- 
ceeds ;  but  the  work  is  an  objectionable  one  in  its  giving 
far  too  full  details  of  '  smutty  '  things  ;  and  my  wife  and  I 
felt  we  had  better  sacrifice  this  sum  ourselves  rather  than 
let  the  Society  of  Friends  be  in  complicity  with  its  pub- 
lication. So  I  paid  the  sum  back  out  of  my  own  pocket, 
and  then  wrote  Tolstoi  a  long  and  earnest  letter  on  the 
subject,  to  which  he  has  as  yet  not  sent  a  reply  ;  but  his 
friend  who  helped  the  translation,  etc.,  came  to  the  Com- 
mittee to  defend  it  against  my  charges.  The  Committee, 
however,  took  my  view,  and  unanimously  condemned  the 
work  as  unfit  for  our  homes  ;  and  ordered  the  J[,\^o  to  be 
refunded  to  me." 

Count  Tolstoi's  reply  to  the  letter  referred  to  above  was 
delayed  through  illness.    It  was  as  follows  : — 

7TH  of  December,  1901. 

'*  Dear  Friend, 

"  I  received  your  letter  and  meant  to  answer  it ;  but  the 
last  two  months  I  have  been  so  weak  that  I  could  not  do 
it,  so  you  must  excuse  me  my  long  silence. 

"  I  read  your  letter  twice  and  considered  the  matter  as 
well  as  I  could,  and  could  not  arrive  at  a  definite  solution 
of  the  question.  You  may  be  right,  but  I  think  not  for 
every  person  which  will  read  the  book.  It  can  have  a 
bad  influence  over  persons  who  will  read  not  the  whole 
book  and  not  take  in  the  sense  of  it.  It  might  also  have 
quite  the  opposite  influence  so  as  it  was  intended  to.  All 
that  I  can  say  in  my  defence  is,  that  when  I  read  a  book, 
the  chief  interest  for  me  is  the  Weltanschauung  desAutors: 


362  REPLY  FROM  TOLSTOI 

what  he  likes  and  what  he  hates.  And  I  hope  that  the 
reader  which  will  read  my  book  with  the  same  view  will 
find  out  what  the  author  likes  or  dislikes  and  will  be 
influenced  with  the  sentiments  of  the  author,  and  I  can 
say  that  when  I  wrote  the  book  I  abhorred  with  all  my 
heart  the  lust,  and  to  express  this  abhorrence  was  one  of 
the  chief  aims  of  the  book. 

"  If  I  have  failed  in  it  I  am  very  sorry,  and  I  am  pleading 
guilty  if  I  was  so  inconsiderate  in  the  scene  of  which  you 
write  that  I  could  have  produced  such  a  bad  impression 
on  your  mind. 

"I  think  that  we  will  be  judged  by  our  conscience  and 
by  God,  not  for  the  results  of  our  deeds  which  we  cannot 
know,  but  for  our  intentions,  and  I  hope  that  my  intentions 
were  not  bad.  Yours  truly, 

Leo  Tolstoy" 

To  Chief  Justice  Holmes,  Boston,  Mass. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  25-1-1902. 

"  I  have  just  met  with  a  book,  which  though  not  abso- 
lutely a  new  one,  has  been  published  so  recently  that 
it  may  not  have  found  its  way  to  Beverly  Farms  ;  for 
'  of  making  many  books  there  is  no  end,'  and  some  of 
these  may  have  got  in  front  of  it.  At  least  this  is  my 
hope,  as  I  want  Canon  Rawnsley's  '  Literary  Associations 
of  the  English  Lakes '  to  come  upon  thy  wife  and  thyself 
as  a  pleasant  surprise,  and  I  venture  on  the  chance  of  its 
doing  so,  to  send  a  copy  by  this  mail  for  your  acceptance. 
Had  thy  father  been  still  living,  it  is,  I  think,  just  such 
reading  as  he  would  have  enjoyed,  for  Canon  Rawnsley 
unites  to  an  excellent  knowledge  of  his  subject,  a  sympathy 
with  the  several  literary  men  with  whose  story  he  deals, 
and  a  style  that  is  refined  and  unaffected,  while  he  has 
certainly  enough  of  the  poetic  power  to  make  him  a  worthy 
interpreter  of  the  golden  age  of  the  Lake  District.  In 
conversation  he  is  equally  charming. 


THE  LAKE  DISTRICT  363 

"  I  had  a  climb  with  him  two  summers  ago,  to  a  height, 
above  Keswick,  on  which  a  camp  commanded  the  Derwent 
valley  on  the  one  side,  and  that  leading  to  Thirlmere  and 
Ambleside  on  the  other.  '  There  were  giants  in  those 
days,'  wrote  the  old  Hebrew  historian,  appealing  to  the 
Eastern  imagination  to  fill  in  their  heights  !  Similarly  we 
might  say  of  our  Camp,  '  There  were  giants  in  that  place ' : 
for  nowhere  in  the  world  is  such  a  variety  of  mountain 
forms,  so  inwrought  with  poetic  legend,  brought  into  a 
single  landscape.  Skiddaw  and  Blencathra  and  the  West- 
ern Cumberland  hills  on  the  north,  the  Borrowdale  heights 
on  the  south,  and  the  range  of  Helvellyn  to  the  east, 
magnificent  in  themselves,  were  all  linked  in  association 
with  Wordsworth  and  his  compeers :  an  association 
mellowed  and  heightened  by  the  lapse  of  what  will  soon 
be  a  hundred  years  of  time. 

"  To  me  there  is  no  more  pathetic  proof  of  the  power  of 
poetry  over  the  human  heart  than  the  vast  crowd  of  tourists 
on  a  summer  evening  at  Wythburn,  with  six  or  seven 
four-horse  coaches  all  standing  near  the  country  inn,  some 
boimd  for  Keswick  and  some  for  Grasmere  and  Rydal  and 
Ambleside.  Pedestrian  and  cyclist  and  coach-passenger 
and  carriage-occupant — they  have  come  from  the  far  ends 
of  the  earth— from  the  Western  States  of  America — from 
the  African  sands— from  the  plains  of  Australia— from  the 
forests  of  India— from  the  rivers  of  New  Zealand— from 
wherever  the  English  language  is  spoken — to  renew,  if  it 
be  possible,  the  spell  of  magical  delight  evoked  in  them 
from  childhood  by  the  lines  of  Wordsworth  or  of  Walter 
Scott:  to  re-awaken,  as  far  as  in  them  lies,  the  poetry 
that  was  aroused  by  those  stirring  words,  by  climbing,  for 
themselves,  from  this  spot — 

'  The  dark  brow  of  the  mighty  Helvellyn ' 
that  looms  above,  and  seeing  with  their  own  eyes 

'Lakes  and  mountains  beneath  them  gleam  misty  and  wide.' 
As  we  look  into  the  faces  of  those  who  have  just  descended 


364  FAILING  STRENGTH 

from  the  summit  we  cannot  help  noting  that  some  have 
succeeded  in  this,  and  many  have  failed.  I  like  to  get 
into  touch  and  sympathy  with  them,  whether  they  belong 
to  the  happy  or  the  disappointed  ones.  For  sympathy  we 
owe,  in  varying  degree,  to  every  created  being  :  even  to 
the  dog  that  bites  our  shins  unprovoked.  He  must  be 
punished,  for  our  protection  in  future  and  for  his  own 
good,  but  not  mercilessly.     *    *    ^ 

"  Now  for  many  weeks  past  I  have  been  laid  up  with 
cardiac  asthma,  which  I  had  made  a  beginning  of  in  the 
summer.  It  has  been  almost  a  struggle  for  existence,  and 
it  means  the  end  of  my  active  or  business  life,  though  at 
seventy-one  years  of  age  it  is  fitting  that  this  should  come. 
I  write  in  my  bedroom  now.  Few  invalids,  however,  are 
so  favoured  in  their  surroundings;  for  from  this  bay 
window  I  have  one  of  the  most  beautiful  landscapes  in  the 
world,  as  Senator  Hoar  will  tell  thee.  Even  without 
rising  from  my  pillow  I  can  see  the  whole  beautiful  range 
of  the  Malvern  Hills,  from  eighteen  miles  away  at  the 
nearer  end  to  twenty-eight  at  the  farther  point.  The  cities 
of  Gloucester  and  Worcester,  and  the  Wyndcliff  below 
Tintern  Abbey  are  all  within  view,  with  hundreds  of 
square  miles  of  field  and  woodland  and  park  and  river  that 
will  some  day  summon  into  existence  a  poetry  of  the 
Cotteswold  Hills  that  shall  be  a  pendant  to  that  of  the 
English  Lakes." 

To  Senator  Hoar,  Worcester,  Mass. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  25-1 -1902. 
"Yes,  I  quite  hope  we  may  keep  up  our  correspondence, 
which  has  been  one  of  the  privileges  of  my  life.  If  I  seem 
long  in  replying  now  and  then,  to  thy  letters,  I  know  thou 
wilt  bear  with  me,  when  I  explain  that  I  have  been  laid 
by  for  many  weeks  with  a  severe  attack  of  cardiac  asthma 
that  entirely  debars  me  from  going  into  Gloucester,  and 
that  confines  me  for  a  large  part  of  the  day  to  my  bed- 
room.    I  dare  say  thou  canst  enter  into  the  experience  of 


ILLNESS  365 

a  man  accustomed  to  a  busy  life  being  thus  set  aside  from 
it  suddenly?  It  is  as  if  one  had  been  sailing  along  day 
after  day  over  a  blue  sea,  and  were  all  at  once  stranded 
on  a  sandbank,  to  watch  the  tide  recede  and  feel  the 
uncertainty  of  ever  floating  again  :  though  sunny  days 
and  unstormy  moonlight  nights  give  one  hope  ! 

"The  doctors  come  with  their  stethoscopes,  and  after 
taking  soundings  declare  that  there  is  nothing  organically 
wrong  :  that  it  is  all  due  to  nervous  exhaustion  :  and  that 
time  and  rest  may  set  all  right  again.  Perhaps  they  may. 
Behind  and  below  all,  comes  the  need  of  clinging  to  the 
hope  in  God  which  is  the  final  refuge  of  every  created 
being,  and  for  which  no  dogma  or  creed  is  a  substitute  of 
any  value. 

"  One  feature  of  asthma  is  the  inability  to  breathe 
sufficiently  while  lying  down.  And  after  hours  of  sitting 
up  and  leaning  forward,  in  bed,  I  devised  one  day  a  board, 
on  two  little  stands  about  fifteen  inches  high,  on  which  one 
can  lean  the  forehead  (on  a  small  pillow)  with  a  semi- 
circular gap  cut  out  for  the  mouth.  It  is  about  three  feet  six 
inches  long,  and  with  it  I  have  had  excellent  nights  of  rest ! 

"  Now  a  curious  thought  has  struck  me  that  I  must  put 
before  Dr  Hall  to  find  if  there  is  any  likelihood  of  ground 
for  it.  In  some  of  the  pre-historic  burial  mounds  we  find 
all  the  skeletons  sitting  on  their  haunches — not  lying 
down.  Is  it  possible  that  this  was  the  posture  of  rest 
to  these  people  ?  If  for  any  reason  their  lungs  were  im- 
perfectly developed,  this  may  have  been  their  position  in 
sleeping.  To  the  Turks  and  Syrians  the  squatting  thus  on 
the  haunches,  with  the  sole  of  the  foot  raised  behind,  so  as 
to  throw  all  the  weight  on  the  fore  part  of  it,  is  the 
position  that  answers  to  our  sitting.  In  pictures,  Turks 
are  shown  cross-legged.  I  have  never  seen  one  in  actual 
life  do  this  ;  nor  do  I  believe  that  it  is  ever  done ! 

"  I  recollect  an  old  Friend  from  Maine,  who  spent  a 
winter  at  Brumana  (in  Lebanon)  with  an  English  friend  of 


366  A  FRAGMENT  ON  MUMMIES 

ours,  at  a  school  for  Syrian  children.  They  (the  American 
and  the  Englishman)  were  much  exercised  at  the  degrada- 
tion of  the  little  things  squatting  thus  on  the  floor,  and 
they  had  some  forms  made  for  them  to  sit  on.  Next 
morning  they  went,  light-hearted,  to  see  this  step  towards 
civilization  ;  but  the  little  Syrians  were  perched  in  rows, 
squatting  on  the  forms  instead  of  on  the  ground  ! 
("  Query  :  Is  lying  a  result  of  civilization  ?  ") 

From  Senator  Hoar,  Washington. 

Washington,  D.C,  January  i6,  1902. 
"  Dear  Mr  Bellows, 

"  I  wonder  if  you  can  tell  me  anything  about  a  wonderful 
fragment  on  Mummies,  which  I  thought  to  be  by  Sir 
Thomas  Browne,  and  which  is  published,  without  any 
question  of  its  genuineness,  in  the  four  volume  edition  of  his 
works  printed  more  than  forty  years  ago,  which  I  possess. 
It  begins  something  like  this  : 

'  Of  their  living  habitations  they  made  little  account, 

'  conceiving  them  but  as  hospitia,  or  inns,  while  they 

*  adorned    the    sepulchres    of  the  dead,  and  planting 

*  thereon  lasting  bases,  defied  the  crumbling  touches  of 
'  time,   and  the  misty  vaporousness  of  oblivion.' 

"  I  have  seen  an  article  in  some  newspaper  lately 
saying  that  this  passage,  which  I  think  nearly  the  most 
sublime  piece  of  prose  in  English  literature,  is  not  by 
Sir  Thomas  Browne  at  all,  but  is  a  clever  hoax.  Perhaps 
you  have  among  your  circle  of  friends  some  scholar  who 
would  know  all  about  it.  Sir  Thomas,  as  you  know  very 
well,  was  of  Norwich.  I  dare  say  there  is  some  learned 
man  there  who  could  answer  the  question  at  once.  The 
newspaper  which  made  the  statement,  stated  that  Emerson 
had  somewhere  spoken  with  great  admiration  of  this 
passage.     I  do  not  remember  that  myself. 

"  I  am,  with  high  regard,  faithfully  yours, 

George  F.  Hoar." 


MUSIC   IN  THE  TREES  367 

To  Senator  Hoar,  Washington. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  1-2-1902. 

"  Immediately  on  receipt  of  thy  letter,  I  was  able  to  put 
the  enquiry  about  the  passage  on  mummies  into  the  right 
hands :  those  of  Leslie  Stephen,  whose  reply,  enclosed,  is 
interesting  and  conclusive.  No  doubt  the  Dictionary  of 
National  Biography  is  in  your  libraries  at  Washington 
and  at  Worcester,  and  thou  wilt  be  able  to  verify  Leslie 
Stephen's  statement  that  James  Crossley,  of  Manchester, 
made  up  the  passage  in  question,  and  palmed  it  off  upon 
Sir  Thomas  Browne's  editor  as  one  he  had  chanced  upon, 
but  of  which  he  had  not  taken  note  of  the  reference ! 

"We  have  been  much  concerned  to  learn  of  thy 
wife's  failure  of  health  at  Washington ;  but  hope  from 
thy  letter  that  she  has  really  passed  the  worst.  As  I 
write  in  my  room  upstairs,  I  have  been  wishing  she  could 
have  such  invalid  quarters  as  mine,  with  all  this  wide 
reach  of  landscape  to  look  out  on,  and  with  the  sound  of 
the  breeze  coming  through  the  open  window,  I  was  going 
to  say  in  music  :  but  it  is  something  more  than  music.  It 
comes  sweeping  through  the  trees,  gathering  up  tones 
that  are  different  from  different  species.  The  sound  in 
the  leafless  beeches  is  sweet,  but  it  is  not  the  same  sound 
as  in  the  foliage  of  the  fir-trees,  and  so  on.  A  being  of 
larger  faculties  than  ours  would  therefore  comprehend 
more,  in  listening  to  the  wind,  than  we  do  ;  he  would  see 
SL  tune  played  on  all  the  trees  and  shrubs  over  which 
it  swept,  as  on  a  multitudinously-stringed  instrument.  I 
can  apprehend,  though  I  cannot  comprehend,  such  an 
effect,  from  watching  the  play  of  the  sunlight  on  the 
towers  in  different  parts  of  the  landscape.  They  shine 
white,  and  fade  and  disappear  in  response  to  the  play  of 
the  clouds,  and  come  again,  like  the  notes  of  music  in 
some  vast  concert,  that  are  varied  by  the  composer  so  as 
never  to  recur  in  the  same  order,  and  yet  never  to  fail  of 
rhythmic  beauty. 


368  FEAR  OF  DIVERGENCES 

"  Such  a  larger-powered  being  as  I  have  hinted  at 
woul(i  take  in  more  than  the  differences  of  sort  in  the 
tree-sounds  ;  he  would  discern  their  individual  specialties, 
just  as  I  see  differences  in  towers  and  spires  that  are 
many  miles  away.  Thus,  there  is  a  lovely  Lombardy 
poplar  not  far  from  my  window — one  that  I  planted  some 
years  ago.  At  sunrise  all  the  leafless  twigs  are  golden  in 
color,  but  near  the  top  there  is  one  branch  that  stands 
away  from  the  rest,  of  course  giving  a  variant  note  to  the 
wind  that  sweeps  over  it.  No  doubt  when  the  tree  was 
younger,  some  starling  or  homeward-bound  rook  rested 
on  the  twig  that  was  not  then  strong  enough  to  bear  his 
weight,  and  so  he  gave  the  plant  this  set  for  all  time.  I 
used  to  think  it  would  be  well  to  cut  off  this  branch,  for 
the  sake  of  uniformity  ;  but  I  could  not  reach  it.  Now  I 
would  rather  have  it  as  it  is.  And  is  it  not  so  in  life? 
We  are  too  fearful  of  divergences.'* 

From.  Senator  Hoar,  Washington. 

Washington,  D.C,  February  24,  1902. 

"  My  Dear  Friend, 

"  I  have  just  got  your  letter  dated  February  ist.  I  got 
back  from  Worcester  last  night  where  I  had  been  to 
attend  a  hearing  in  court  and  to  straighten  out,  if  I  could, 
the  affairs  of  Clark  University  of  which  you  will  remember 
our  friend  President  Hall  is  the  head.  The  founder  left  a 
very  obscure  will.  But  we  hope  it  will  be  interpreted  so 
as  to  be  the  source  of  great  good. 

"  I  am  very  sorry  indeed  to  be  assured  that  the  famous 
fragment  on  Mummies  is  forged.  It  is  inserted  in  the  four- 
volume  edition  of  Sir  Thomas  Browne's  works  which  I 
own.  I  have  always  deemed  that  passage  one  of  the  very 
few  best  passages  in  English  prose  ;  and  in  spite  of  what  you 
tell  me  of  its  origin  I  do  not  change  my  mind.  Indeed  it 
is  hard  to  believe  that  a  man  capable  of  rising  to  that 
height  of  lofty  sublimity  did  not  do  something  else  to  make 
himself  famous. 


MUSIC   IN  THE  TREES  369 

"  Your  discovery  of  the  difference  in  the  musical  sound 
of  the  wind  as  it  sweeps  through  different  species  of  trees 
and  shrubs  is  quite  new  to  me,  and  manifests  marvellous 
discernment  which  a  man  must  be  a  naturalist  and  poet  to 
possess.  I  should  like  to  look  out  with  you  upon  that 
wonderful  landscape  again.  I  believe  I  contemplate 
leaving  this  world  with  all  proper  equanimity.  But  there 
is  a  great  deal  in  it  that  I  long  to  see,  and  a  great  deal  I 
want  to  know  and  want  to  do  before  I  go.  I  do  not  get 
much  time  for  reading,  beside  what  is  needed  for  my 
public  duties,  which  have  been  quite  engrossing  this 
winter.     But  I  hope  to  have  more  leisure  in  time  to  come. 

"  I  hope  I  shall  get  better  news  of  you  than  your  two 
last  letters  have  brought,  and  shall  hear  that  you  are 
restored  to  your  usual  activities.  I  hope  your  ill  health 
is  not  due  to  working  too  hard  in  the  United  States,  but  on 
the  contrary  that  your  physician  will  prescribe  another 
visit  to  this  side  of  the  water  as  a  cure.  If  you  will  come 
again,  you  shall  see  things  leisurely  and  quietly.  I  trust 
you  will  be  before  long  fully  restored  to  your  former 
health  and  strength.  At  the  same  time,  however,  I  envy 
you  the  quiet  of  the  sick  chamber,  from  which  you  can 
shut  out  all  the  cares  of  this  world  and  the  deceitfulness  of 
riches  and  give  yourself  up  to  pleasant  thoughts  and 
fancies  like  those  you  tell  me  of  in  your  letter.  My  year 
had  in  it  little  vacation.  The  only  real  vacation  I  have 
had  since  I  came  back  from  England  in  1899  was  that  I 
enjoyed  so  much  with  you  and  your  wife  last  summer. 

"  I  feel  more  hopeful  and  more  cheerful  as  I  grow  old, 
and  yet  just  now  there  is  not  much  to  be  of  satisfaction  for 
me  in  the  political  conditions  here.  I  sometimes  think 
that  in  this  vulgar  dream  of  empire  our  people  are  for- 
getting all  their  old  ideals,  and  that  in  clutching  out  after 
greatness  they  are  abandoning  everything  that  has  made 
them  great.     I  am  faithfully  and  affectionately  yours, 

George  F.  Hoar." 

X 


370  THE  DIVINITY   OF  CHRIST 

To  Joannin  Ardouin^  Paris. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,   19-2-1902. 

"  Though  I  still  am  ill,  and  write  this  au  lit^  I  am  not 
without  hope  that  the  summer  may  enable  me  to  get  out 
again.  It  would  be  a  real  pleasure  to  see  thy  wife  and  thy- 
self here.  *  -^  ^  *  It  was  rather  singular  that  the  same 
mail  that  brought  me  thy  letter,  mentioning  Harvard,  also 
brought  one  from  the  President  of  that  University  asking 
me  to  cable  reply  whether  I  could  go  to  Manchester  and 
represent  Harvard  at  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  Owen's 
College.     Of  course  I  have  to  cable  '  impossible.' 

"  The  Tolstoi  letter  in  Le  Temps  is  very  good  :  he  puts 
each  of  his  points,  I  think,  unanswerably.  I  remember  in 
1893  he  said  to  me  that  he  thought  it  hard  that  so  many  of 
his  friends  should  have  suffered  for  adhesion  to  his  teach- 
ing, while  he  himself  was  allowed  to  escape  :  but  I  begged 
him  not  to  try  to  be  a  martyr.     *    -^    * 

*'  The  last  time  I  was  with  him  was  at  the  end  of  1900, 
when  Edmund  Brooks,  a  friend  with  whom  I  went  to 
Petersburg,  went  with  me  to  Moscow  to  dine  with  the 
Tolstois.  There  were  fifteen  of  the  family  at  table,  besides 
ourselves  as  guests.  I  know  Count  Tolstoi  does  not  be- 
lieve in  the  Divinity  of  Christ:  in  fact,  when  I  was 
speaking  of  him  to  the  Countess  T.  at  Petersburg,  she 
wanted  us  to  give  him  her  amities,  etc.,  and  I  chanced  to 
say  '■  Dans  Vessentiel  il  est  Chretien ' — but  she  stopped  me 
— *  Cest  un  tris  bon  gar f  on  si  vous  voules,  mais  il  n'est 
pas  ChrMienf  Many  people  in  such  matters  do  not  go 
deeper  than  a  creed  or  belief:  but  to  me,  as  God  is 
en  rapport  with  all  that  He  creates.  He  is  manifested,  in 
varying  degree  certainly,  but  still  manifested,  to  every 
human  heart,  showing  every  man  what  is  good  and  what 
is  evil.  And  perfectly  irrespective  of  whether  one  is  a 
Christian,  or  a  Mahometan,  or  a  Jew,  or  a  heathen,  every 
man  who  forsakes  evil  and  does  rights  draws  near  to  God, 
and  is  approved  of  Him.     Take  Confucius  as  an  instance. 


CONFUCIUS  371 

No  one  can  read  his  life  without  being  convinced  that  he 
was  in  deed  and  truth  a  good  man— and  what  is  more, 
an  extraordinarily  good  man :  that  his  goodness  was  a 
growth,  being  much  more  marked  later  in  life  than  it  was 
at  first.  I  recollect  that  he  had  on  some  occasion  given 
advice  to  one  of  the  petty  Chinese  Kings,  who  was  offended 
at  it,  and  who  disgraced  him,  reducing  him  to  poverty  for 
a  while.  His  own  remark  on  this  is  very  striking :  to  this 
effect : — *  My  food  is  the  coarsest  unhusked  rice,  and  my 
drink  is  water ;  but  these  things  cannot  take  from  me  the 
joy  of  righteousness.' 

"  I  feel  certain  that  the  Maker  of  all  things  is  good,  and 
just — and  if  He  is  good  and  just,  He  cannot  create  any 
being  with  whom  He  is  not  in  sympathy.  He  could  not 
create  Chinamen  with  less  chance  of  sharing  His  sympathy 
than  Europeans,  because  that  would  be  unjust  and  unfair. 
In  the  old  Bible  language  this  truth  is  expressed  in  the 
words  '  The  tender  mercies  of  the  Lord  are  over  all  His 
works.'  Tender  mercies  include,  above  all,  salvation: 
that  is.  He  puts  the  power  of  being  everlastingly  purified 
and  united  to  Himself,  within  the  reach  of  every  soul  that 
ever  was,  or  is,  or  will  be  created. 

"This  Tolstoi  believes:  and  while  I  believe,  and  he 
does  not,  that  Jesus  Christ  was  a  manifestation  of  God  in 
human  form,  this  forms  no  barrier  between  us.  A  mystery 
which  numbers  of  men  cannot  fathom  or  grasp,  [and] 
cannot  believe,  cannot  be  essential  to  salvation.  Or,  to 
put  it  another  way.  God  would  have  all  men  be  saved. 
But  that  which  is  to  save  all  men  must  be  extremely 
simple.  Therefore  anything  which  is  not  simple  enough 
for  all,  cannot  be  essential  for  all. 

"  He  who  is  the  Source  of  goodness  must  have  more 
goodness  than  any  other  being.  The  Source  of  love  must 
be  more  full  of  love  than  anything  that  emanates  from  that 
Source.  Take  a  mother's  love :  something  so  great — so 
deep,  as  to  be  scarcely  fathomable  by  man— something  we 

X2 


372  DIVINE  SYMPATHY 

rather  apprehend  than  comprehend.  What  then  must  be 
the  heart  that  shaped  and  builded  all  the  mothers'  hearts 
that  ever  were  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  till  now  ? 
Nay,  we  may  go  down  below,  to  the  very  animals,  and 
see  millions  innumerable  of  hearts  of  mothers  among  them 
filled  with  a  love  for  their  little  ones  such  as  we  can  by  no 
possibility  measure  or  grasp  the  portee  of !  Would  such  a 
Being  as  this  create  man  in  conditions  of  trial  and  suffering 
and  temptation  and  struggle  such  as  we  have  to  pass 
through,  though  for  a  brief  and  little  moment — a  mere 
flash  of  time  as  compared  with  the  boundless  eternity  we 
are  to  enter  on  next ; — would,  I  say,  a  Being  so  overflow- 
ing in  love  and  tenderness  and  sympathy  unspeakable, 
unfathomable,  incomprehensible,  send  us  into  such  a 
world  of  time  to  chance  our  way  through  it  by  ourselves  ? 
No — never  ! 

"  Too  infinitely  loving — too  infinitely  full  of  the  noblesse 
oblige  that  must  be  present  to  such  a  mind,  for  any  such 
thing,  such  a  God  could  not  create  Man  without  at  the 
same  time  determining  to  put  Himself  on  the  same  low 
level— to  share  to  the  last  and  lowest  atom  the  suffering 
which  in  His  wisdom  and  love  He  saw  to  be  needful  for 
the  final  perfecting  of  His  creatures  !  For  this  reason  it 
is  clear  to  me  that  the  coming  of  a  Divine  Being,  say 
a  manifestation  of  God  Himself  in  human  form,  was  as 
inevitable  as  the  creation  of  the  sun  or  the  stars. 

"  If  sometime  I  send  thee  a  volume  by  Barclay— read 
what  he  says  on  'Universal  and  Saving  Light.'  Count 
Tolstoi  stood  over  the  page  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  saying, 
'Why  haven't  you  taken  more  pains  to  spread  this 
doctrine — because  it  is  the  truth  ? ' " 

To  the  Sergeant  in  charge  of  the  Ordnance  Survey 
at  Gloucester. 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  27-2-1902. 
"I  am  always  glad  to  be  of  any  help  in  Roman  matters, 
but  illness  prevented  my  replying  by  return  to  thy  letter 
of  the  25th,  re  VIA  JULIA. 


VIA  JULIA  373 

"The  real  main  road  that  must  have  borne  this  name  is 
the  one  running  from  Gloucester  through  Lydney  and 
Chepstow  to  Caerleon  and  South  Wales. 

"First  of  all,  in  the  year  43  a.d.,  when  the  Romans 
conquered  Britain,  they  secured  Gloucester  [GLEVUM]  as 
the  key  of  the  Severn,  to  hold  the  Silures  or  South  Welsh 
borderers  ;  but  in  the  course  of  a  half  century  after,  they 
were  so  harassed  by  incursions  of  the  South  Welsh  that 
they  moved  the  head-quarters  of  the  II.  Legion  west,  to 
Caerleon  on  Usk,  where  it  was  stationed  all  the  rest  of 
the  time  of  its  stay  in  Britain— or  nearly  all. 

"This  conquest  of  the  Silures  was  made  by  Julius 
Frontinus,  a  very  able  general  under  Domitian,  and,  as  he 
made  the  road,  it  was  no  doubt  named  after  him.  He  was 
a  very  skilled  engineer,  and  after  his  return  to  Rome  he 
was  put  in  charge  of  the  aqueducts  and  water  supply  of 
the  city,  upon  which  he  wrote  a  treatise. 

"  The  Silures  were  the  most  dangerous  of  all  the  native 
races  the  Romans  had  to  deal  with  in  this  part  of  the 
Island :  several  times  they  attacked  the  garrisons,  once 
cutting  off  a  foraging  party,  and  so  on. 

"To  keep  them  in  check  a  very  perfect  system  was 
adopted.  I  have  examined  the  several  points  to  which 
the  signalling  was  arranged,  and  I  find  that  within  an  hour 
of  the  alarm  being  given  at  Caerleon,  it  would  be  passed 
over  the  Severn  from  Caerwent,  over  the  Wye  at 
Chepstow,  etc.  etc.,  to  five-and-twenty  places  for  rein- 
forcements, some  smaller,  some  larger.  From  Cirencester 
and  Gloucester  troops  of  horse  could  be  sent  through  the 
Forest  of  Dean— for  cavalry  were  stationed  at  each  of 
these  cities— and  pensioners  of  infantry  besides. 

"  Then  from  Bath,  Sea  Mills,  and  Bristol  side,  troops 
could  cross  at  '  New  Passage  '—coming  further  up  the 
Sea  Bank  or  the  eastern  side — so  as  to  drop  down  with  the 
stream  if  the  tide  was  not  right,  and  landing  at  that  camp 
near  the  Great  Western  tunnel  under  the  Severn.     This 


374  NAME  DERIVATIONS 

camp  stands  on  the  cliff  alongside  of  a  low  part  of  the 
shore  where  the  boats  could  ground.  The  banks  are 
19  feet  3  inches  high.  I  remember  seeing  them  measured 
by  the  G.W.R.  surveyors  =  20  Roman  feet. 

"  This  enabled  men  to  form  up  into  marching  order  for 
Caerwent  and  Caerleon  under  protection. 

*'  In  returning  from  these  places  to  Sea  Mills,  etc.,  the 
boats  would  make  a  long  diagonal  run  to  *Chittening 
Street  '—further  south— thus  partly  using  the  rapid  stream 
of  the  Severn.  Chittening  is  a  Saxon  alteration,  or  cor- 
ruption, of  Cue  Tenewen,  the  British,  i.e.,  Welsh  for  Bank 
Side,  a  great  sea  wall  still  existing  there.  It  is  very 
likely  that  Julius  Frontinus  made  this  bank  and  the  road 
to  Bath,  etc.  ;  but  it  would  be  safer  simply  to  mark  it 
'ROMAN  ROAD.' 

*'  A  noteworthy  thing  is  that  on  the  old  one-inch  map 
the  old  road  from  Bristol  to  Gloucester  is  lettered  as 
'  Cribb's  Causeway,'  up  to  the  point  where  the  branch 
strikes  west  to  cross  the  Severn :  and  above  that  point  it 
is  marked  '  Ridgeway.'  This  arises  from  a  partial  trans- 
lation of  the  Welsh,  or  original  name,  in  the  first  instance, 
and  a  full  rendering  of  it  in  the  second  case. 

"  Thus  the  original  name  must  have  been  Sarn  y  Crib  = 
Paved  way  of  the  Ridge.  No  doubt  some  Saxon  asked 
what  Sarn  meant,  and  when  he  learned  it  was  Causeway, 
he  jumped  to  the  conclusion  that  Crib  was  a  man's  name  ; 
but  it  means  a  Ridge. 

"So,  again,  Patchw2iy  is  a  translation  of  Sarn  y  Clwt— 
or  some  similar  word.  Clwt  means  hurdle,  as  well  as 
patch.  It  meant  a  hurdle  or  wattled  road  over  the  marsh. 
We  have  it  in  the  English  clout—'  Old  shoes  and  clouted,' 
'  clout  nails,'  and  so  on." 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

TRAITS  AND  CHARACTERISTICS -CONCLUSION. 

THE  following  lines,  written  by  his  father  when  John 
Bellows  was  only  six  years  old,  give  evidence  of  a 
degree  of  thoughtfulness  very  striking  for  one  so  young : 
*'  John  said  to  me  one  evening  when  we  were  alone, 
'  Father,  I've  been  thinking  that  if  people  are  too  poor  to 
buy  a  Bible,  our  Heavenly  Father  can  put  the  words  of 
the  Bible  into  their  minds  for  them  to  think  about,'  and 
added,  '  When  I  am  in  school,  writing  my  figures,  if  I  feel 
that  I  ought  to  pray,  I  can  pray  without  opening  my 
lips.' "  Surely  these  sayings  of  the  child  were  an  earnest 
of  that  remarkable  independence  of  conviction  which  was 
always  such  a  feature  in  his  character. 

Whilst  faithfully  adhering  to  his  own  conception  of  re- 
ligious truth,  as  the  years  went  by  his  outlook  gradually 
widened  with  regard  to  the  standpoint  of  others  ;  and  this 
was  particularly  noticeable  after  his  return  from  Russia 
in  1893 — a  result  due,  no  doubt,  to  the  fact  that  he  had 
been  brought  into  the  closest  intimacy  with  many  individ- 
uals whose  spiritual  aspirations  he  found  to  be  the  same 
as  his  own,  but  whose  creed  was  quite  different.  A 
remark,  to  which  he  assented,  was  made  to  him  on  this 
journey,  that  "there  is  not  much  difference  between  a 
real  Christian  and  a  good  Jew."  He  once  wrote  :  "  In 
going  through  life,  no  two  of  us  have  precisely  the  same 
path  to  tread.  Yet  we  cannot  contemplate  the  steps  by 
which  another  soul  has  overcome  the  world,  without  being 
helped  in  our  own,  though  different,  path  to  the  same  end. 
If  we  are  in  a  right  state  of  mind,  we  shall  be  in  sympathy 


376  TEETOTALISM  —  VEGETARIANISM 

with  such  a  man,  notwithstanding  that  the  truths  which 
were  the  principal  ones  he  was  called  to  contend  for,  may 
not,  at  present,  even  be  shown  to  us  at  all.  Unity  of 
spirit  does  not  lie  in  holding  the  same  views  of  things,  or 
learning  the  same  outward  lessons  ;  but  in  our  loving  and 
cherishing  the  truth  in  whatever  direction  it  is  made 
manifest  to  us." 

With  one  or  two  quite  trifling  exceptions,  John  Bellows 

was  a  teetotaller  all  his  life.     He  felt  so  strongly  on  the 

subject  of  drink,  that  he  declined,  in  his  business,  all  work 

that  was  in  any  way  connected  with  it.     The  following 

extract  from  a  letter  will  show  how  courteously  this  could 

be  done. 

Gloucester,  2-1-1899. 

"  Being  impressed  with  the  misery  and  suffering  of  all 
kinds  involved  in  the  drinking  customs  of  the  country,  I 
felt  when  I  began  business,  some  forty  years  ago,  that  I 
ought  to  decline  all  printing,  etc.,  connected  with  them,  so 
far  as  I  was  able  to  draw  a  line  for  the  purpose.  Thy 
kindness  (which  I  fully  appreciate)  led  to  the  placing  of  a 
former  order  here,  which  was  executed  without  coming 
under  my  own  notice,  or  I  would  have  offered  the  ex- 
planation I  am  now  making,  then.  I  know  how  stupid  it 
must  seem,  looked  at  from  thy  standpoint,  for  me  to  make 
such  a  rule,  and  it  is  no  light  pain  for  me  to  be  thought 
stupid  and  narrow." 

He  carried  this  objection  to  printing  what  his  conscience 
did  not  approve  even  further  than  this,  for  he  also  declined 
to  do  certain  other  kinds  of  work  ;  but  these  refusals 
were  always  expressed  in  such  a  manner  that  no  one 
appears  ever  to  have  been  seriously  offended  by  them. 

About  the  year  1890,  he  was  so  horrified  by  a  newspaper 
article  narrating  the  cruelties  often  inflicted  on  live  cattle 
during  their  transit  across  the  Atlantic,  that  he  declared 
he  would  no  longer  be  a  party  to  such  things,  and  would 
never  again  eat  meat — a  vow  which  he  rigidly  kept.    For 


RELATIONS  WITH  EMPLOYEES  377 

two  or  three  years  he  did  not  feel  debarred  from  eating  fish: 
but  there  came  a  time  at  last  when  he  gave  that  up  also. 

During  his  visit  to  St.  Petersburg  in  1892  he  was  dining 
one  evening  with  a  gentleman,  who  enquired  of  him  if  he 
had  been  at  a  certain  ball  on  the  previous  evening,  and  if 
he  had  seen  such  and  such  a  play.  To  these  enquiries 
John  Bellows  had  to  reply  in  the  negative  ;  and,  further, 
that  he  had  never  been  to  a  ball  or  to  a  theatre  in  his  life. 
This  statement  was  so  astounding  to  his  host  that  he  laid 
down  his  knife  and  fork,  looked  fixedly  at  him,  and  ex- 
claimed :  "You  never  go  to  balls,  you  don't  go  to  the 
theatre,  you  drink  no  wine,  and  you  eat  no  meat :  then  do 
tell  me  if  your  life  is  worth  living  at  all !  "  But  it  was 
not  on  such  things  as  these  that  John  Bellows  depended 
for  his  happiness  ;  and  yet  it  would  have  been  hard  to  find 
anyone  who  got  more  keen  enjoyment  out  of  life  than  he 
did :  certainly  no  one  was  more  interested  in  every  phase 
of  it,  from  the  spiritual  welfare  of  a  nation  to  the  passing 
amusement  of  a  little  child. 

Amongst  his  fellow- craftsmen  his  reputation  for  per- 
fection of  workmanship  stood  very  high,  and  his  office 
became  an  excellent  school  for  printers. 

His  relations  with  his  employees  were  of  the  happiest, 
and  it  was  a  source  of  the  deepest  satisfaction  to  him  that 
several  of  them  had  been  with  him  for  so  long.  The  first 
he  ever  employed,  who  came  to  him  as  a  boy,  gave  him 
faithful  service  for  forty-three  years,  and  is  now  in  the 
employment  of  John  Bellows*  sons.  Several  others,  also, 
were  his  trusted  servants  for  periods  ranging  up  to  forty 
years.  There  was  no  limit,  as  far  as  his  means  permitted, 
to  his  practical  generosity  to  his  workpeople,  and  his 
sympathy  with  them  in  their  trials  was  deep  and  sincere. 
To  further  their  welfare,  especially  that  of  those  who  had 
served  him  the  longest,  he  started  a  system  of  bonuses  on 
their  savings,  which  in  time  bore  fruit  in  their  greater 
comfort. 


378  SYMPATHY   WITH   OTHERS 

It  was  to  him  a  cheering  sign  of  the  moral  improvement 
of  the  age,  that  in  many  cases  the  sympathy  of  the  rich 
with  the  poor  was  greater  in  his  lifetime  than  it  had  ever 
been  before.  It  required  no  effort  on  his  part  to  show 
them  kindness— his  inclinations  all  lying  in  that  direction. 
When  driving  to  and  from  business,  it  was  so  much  his 
custom  to  stop  and  pick  up  a  solitary  wayfarer,  that  his 
horse  acquired  the  habit  of  pulling  up  of  its  own  accord, 
when  it  saw  one  upon  the  road — sometimes  to  the  con- 
fusion of  its  owner.  A  certain  working-man  has  told  of 
being  picked  up  in  this  way—"  in  my  dirty  clothes,  just  as 
I  was  coming  from  work,  when  I  was  fair  'shamed  to  sit 
by  'un ;  but  he  didn't  seem  to  mind,  bless  'ee !  "  No 
opportunity  was  ever  missed  by  him  of  getting  into  sympathy 
with  those  whom  he  casually  met  on  his  journeys.  He 
would,  if  possible,  sit  near  the  driver  of  the  omnibus  he 
happened  to  be  riding  on  in  London,  joining  in  conver- 
sation with  him,  and  entering  into  the  trials  that  were 
frequently  confided  to  him. 

His  wife  was  once  visiting  some  friends  near  Epping 
Forest,  and  he  was  to  join  her  the  day  before  her  return, 
to  accompany  her  home.  A  picnic  in  the  Forest  had  been 
planned,  if  he  would  consent  to  stay  a  day  longer  for  it. 
No  one  would  have  enjoyed  it  more  keenly  than  he  ;  but 
he  said  it  was  impossible.  He  was  reluctant  to  state  the 
reason  why,  but  at  last  it  transpired  that  he  had  had  a 
good  deal  of  talk  with  the  boy  who  had  carried  his  bag  for 
him  in  London,  and  had  promised  him  that  he  should  carry 
it  again  if  he  would  meet  a  certain  train  on  the  following 
day.  He  had  no  means  of  communicating  with  the  boy, 
and  rather  than  break  his  word  to  him,  he  would  forego 
his  own  pleasure. 

John  Bellows'  life  was  such  a  full  one  that  he  was  un- 
fortunately never  able  to  take  the  hint  contained  in  the 
following  letter  from  his  old  friend  Dr  Hiibner.  All  that 
he  had  evolved  from  the  archaeology  of  his  city,  and  from 


GLEVUM  379 

the  Roman  history  of  Britain,  was  scattered  through  the 
pages  of  the  Proceedings  of  Societies  at  whose  meetings 
he  had  given  addresses. 

From  Dr  Hiibner,  Berlin 

Berlin,  16-3-1899 
='Dear  Friend, 

*'  It  is  more  than  a  year  I  did  not  hear  from  thee,  but 
hope  thou  and  thy  family  continue  in  their  usual  health  and 
prosperity. 

*'  I  was  occupied,  these  days,  to  write  a  short  notice  about 
Glevum  for  our  new  great  Encyclopaedia  of  Antiquity 
— Pauly-Wissowa,  '  Realencyklopadie,'  two  volimies  and 
a  half  published  since  1894.  I  dare  say  thou  hast  seen  it ; 
it  is  not  badly  printed. 

"Well,  in  writing  this  note,  it  struck  me  that  there  is 
no  monograph  existing  about  Gloucester.  Thou  hast  sent 
me  from  many  years  ago  short  notes  about  finds  in  and 
near  Gloucester,  foundations  of  buildings,  etc.,  squeezes  of 
inscriptions  and  marks  on  tiles,  etc.,  many  interesting 
photographs,  etc.,  a  plan  of  the  city  in  which  the  lines  of 
walls  and  streets  are  marked.  But  is  there  nobody  in  thy 
city,  who  could  put  all  that  together  and  form  a  handy 
volume  of  short  relations,  photos,  plans,  etc.,  only  matter 
of  fact,  no  dreary  discussion,  printed  in  thy  excellent 
types,  and  giving  to  the  citizen  and  to  the  stranger  by  it  a 
full  idea  of  what  Gloucester  once  has  been  ?  Also  Medi- 
aeval Qoucester  does  not  lose  interest.  It  would  be  worth 
while,  as  it  seems  to  me,  to  do  such  a  work.  Is  not  there 
a  clergyman  or  a  learned  schoolmaster  at  hand,  who  would 
help  thee  in  such  an  undertaking  ?  All  those  curious  tiles, 
with  RPG  and  PRG,  evident  texts  of  the  public  works  of 
t\ieco\ony—r(atio)p(ublica)  G(levensis),  or  pr(aetorium? 
praedium?)  G(levense)—a.s  1  venture  to  read  them  and 
explain  them — should  be  represented  in  careful  photo- 
graphs. Doesn't  it  seem  to  thee  also  a  worthy  service 
done  to  thy  native  town,  to  leave  it  such  a  monument  of 


38o  ORIGINALITY  AND  CHARM 

its  beginnings  ?  A  flourishing  community,  the  wealth  ot 
which  is  increasing,  ought  not  to  spare  the  necessary- 
means  to  give  publicity  to  such  a  book.  Certainly,  by  and 
by,  new  finds  will  come  and  make  the  book  the  more 
interesting.     *    *    * 

"  I  remain,  truly  as  ever,  thy  friend 

E.  Hubner" 

John  Bellows'  vivid  imagination,  and  the  power  he  had 
of  bringing  the  past  into  the  present,  and  of  throwing 
fresh  light  on  that  past,  made  his  narratives  instinct  with 
life  and  animation.  He  was  full  of  originality,  so  that  it 
was  impossible  for  him  ever  to  be  dull,  and  his  remarkable 
memory  enabled  him  to  place  his  illustrations  just  where 
they  produced  the  most  telling  effect.  The  many  Associa- 
tions which  visited  Gloucester  always  found  in  him  a 
willing  guide  to  its  antiquities,  and  his  intimate  knowledge 
of  Roman  Glevum  was  always  at  their  service. 

He  possessed  the  gift  of  charm  in  a  striking  degree. 
Men  and  women  were  drawn  to  him  instinctively ;  and 
his  own  character  was  on  so  high  a  level  that,  quite  natur- 
ally and  without  effort  on  his  part,  the  best  elements  in  the 
characters  of  those  with  whom  he  came  in  contact  were 
brought  out.  Even  the  unworthy  whom  he  endeavoured 
to  raise  were,  for  the  time,  lifted  by  association  with  him, 
to  something  higher  than  they  had  known  before. 

John  Bellows  did  not  differ  from  his  fellow-men  in  a 
liability  to  make  mistakes ;  but  he  was  always  ready  to 
own  them  when  convinced  that  he  had  made  them.  In  a 
leaflet  which  he  issued  in  1 900  on  another  subject,  he  writes, 
"Nearly  forty  years  ago  I  made  two  serious  mistakes — 
one  in  attacking  John  Bright,  and  the  other  in  imagining 
that  the  Southern  States  of  America  were  struggling  for 
their  proper  rights.  I  have  long  since  been  sorry  for 
these  mistakes,  and  have  said  so." 

He  always  took  the  deepest  interest  in  the  Protestant 
Reformation  in  England,  and  in  the  course  of  some  years 


FRENCH   ^BOURSIERS'  381 

he  entered  on  several  controversies  on  the  subject,  in  the 
local  press.  He  was  very  jealous  for  the  honour  of  the 
men  who  carried  out  that  great  movement,  and  felt  it  to 
be  his  duty  to  defend  them  whenever  their  memory  was 
assailed. 

In  his  later  years,  John  Bellows  not  infrequently  spoke 
in  the  meetings  for  worship  of  his  Society  :  his  brief  and 
living  messages  always  being  given  with  weight  and 
power.   He  was  for  some  years  an  elder  of  his  Meeting. 

During  the  past  few  years  the  French  Government  has 
adopted  an  excellent  system  by  which  certain  students 
who  have  passed  with  exceptional  credit  through  its 
schools  are  maintained  for  one,  and  in  some  cases  for  two, 
years  in  a  foreign  country.  In  several  instances  situations 
have  been  found  for  these  boursiers  in  business  houses  in 
England,  where  they  have  not  only  been  able  to  improve 
their  knowledge  of  our  language,  but  have  received  an 
insight  into  our  business  methods.  John  Bellows  was 
quick  to  recognise  the  advantages  of  the  system,  and  in 
recent  years  a  succession  of  these  young  men  came  under 
his  care  at  Gloucester.  To  mark  their  appreciation  of 
his  help,  the  French  Government  sent  John  Bellows  a 
handsome  copy  of  La  Fontaine's  Fables.  In  acknow- 
ledging the  gift,  he  wrote  to  his  friend  Professor  Bonet- 
Maury,  of  Paris,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Committee 
having  charge  of  the  young  men :  — 

Upton  Knoll,  Gloucester,  21-5-89. 

'*  Dear  Friend, 

"  I  attach  very  great  importance  to  the  success  and 
spread  of  the  system  of  placing  boursiers  d  V stranger,  not 
only  as  a  well-deserved  reward  to  the  young  men  them- 
selves, but  especially  as  a  means  of  making  two  neighbour- 
nations  better  acquainted  with  each  other,  and  thus  helping 
to  bind  them  in  a  concord  that  may  never  be  broken.  I 
have  no  hesitation  then,  in  believing  that  if  it  were  possible 
very  largely  to  extend  this  excellent  system  among  the 


382  ILLNESS 

nations  of  Europe,  of  letting  the  young  men  of  one  country 
dwell  for  awhile  among  the  people  of  another  land,  it 
would  be  a  powerful  means  of  lessening  those  misconcep- 
tions and  mistaken  ideas  about  one  another,  which  lead 
on  to  war.  Even  individually,  if  we  experience  dislike 
towards  a  person,  such  a  feeling  lessens  as  we  come  to 
know  him  more  closely,  and  enter  into  his  trials  and 
sorrows  :  for  it  is  impossible  to  hate  even  a  wicked  man 
if  we  know  all  about  him. 

"  The  day  will  come  when  this  will  be  the  experience 
of  the  nations  too — and  with  it  will  come  the  beating  of 
swords  into  plough-shares,  and  the  learning  of  war  no 
more.  But  even  that  supreme  hour  will  have  had,  like 
all  great  things,  its  small  and  distant  preparations  which 
were  developed  slowly,  and  by  little  changes.  When  I 
say  that  these  two  beautiful  volumes  of  La  Fontaine,  in 
reminding  me  of  the  quiet  yet  potentially  great  work 
on  which  the  Comity  is  engaged,  will  always  carry  my 
thoughts  on  to  that  better  future  it  is  helping  to  accom- 
plish, thou  wilt  believe  how  greatly  I  shall  value  them. 

"  I  am,  with  sincere  respect,  thy  friend, 

John  Bellows." 

Although  it  was  too  evident  that  his  strength  was  gradu- 
ally failing,  the  winter  of  1 901-2  was  passed  by  John 
Bellows  in  a  fair  degree  of  comfort.  He  was  able  to  take 
an  occasional  drive :  and  in  his  correspondence  with  his 
friends  kept  up  his  interest  with  the  outer  world.  It  soon 
became  necessary,  however,  for  him  to  arrange  for  the 
transfer  of  his  business  to  his  sons  Max  and  William,  who 
had  previously  assisted  in  the  management  of  it.  In 
February,  1902,  he  had  the  grief  of  losing  his  only  brother, 
Forster,  who  died  at  Cardiff,  after  a  short  illness. 

With  the  return  of  Spring,  the  heart-weakness  from 
which  John  Bellows  suffered  became  more  acute,  and  his 
son  Philip,  the  only  absent  member  of  his  family,  was 


DEATH  AND  FUNERAL  383 

summoned  home  from  America.  John  Bellows  now  had 
the  great  satisfaction  of  having  all  his  nine  children  around 
him.  As  his  bodily  strength  declined,  it  was  an  unspeak- 
able comfort  to  those  about  him  that  his  faith  in  the  unseen 
became  stronger  and  stronger.  It  was  like  living  in  the 
atmosphere  of  Heaven  itself  to  be  with  him  during  his  last 
days  on  earth :  and  for  him  Heaven  had  already  begun. 
From  this  experience  there  was  no  variation ;  and  early  on 
the  morning  of  May  5th,  1902,  "  he  was  not,  for  God  took 
him." 

He  had  himself  chosen  for  his  last  resting  place  the 
beautiful  burying  ground  on  the  open  hill-side  at  Painswick, 
not  far  from  his  own  home,  and  here  on  the  9th  of  May 
the  funeral  took  place,  with  the  simple  ceremony  of  the 
Society  of  Friends. 


APPENDIX 

A  LIST  OF  JOHN  BELLOWS'  WRITINGS 


Outline  Dictionary,  for  the  Use  of  Missionaries, 
Explorers  and  Students  of  Language.  With  an 
introduction  by  Professor  Max  Miiller.  Title: 
pp.  v-xxxi,  and  2-368.     Size  6^  x  4  inches      ...     1867 

Ditto  ditto.  With  introductory  notes  by  Professor 
Summers,  on  writing  Chinese  with  Roman  letters. 
Title:  pp.  iii-vi,  and  2-368.     Size  6}^  x  4  inches     1868 

The  Bona-fide  Pocket  Dictionary  of  the  French  and 
English  Languages  on  an  entirely  new  system. 
Revised  and  corrected  by  Auguste  Beljame, 
B.A.,  Alexandre  Beljame,  M.A.,  and  John 
Sibree,  M.A.  First  edition,  6000  copies.  Refer- 
ences, titles  and  dedication :  pp.  i-xvi,  and  1-548. 
Size  4>^  X  2^  inches  1872 

Ditto  ditto.  Second  edition,  now  in  its  8oth  thousand. 
Revised  by  Alexandre  Beljame,  Docteur-es- 
lettres.  Proof  sheets  read  by  John  Sibree,  M.A. 
and  Auguste  Marrot,  B.  A.  References,  title  and 
dedication :  pp.  i-viii  and  1-605  •  maps.  Size 
4/^  X  2^  inches       1876 

PAMPHLETS,  ETC. 

Remarks  on  certain  Anonymous  Articles  designed 

to  render  Queen  Victoria  unpopular       1864 

Two  Days'  Excursion  to  Llanthony  Abbey  and  the 

Black  Mountains      1868 

Ritualism  or  Quakerism  ?        1870 

Who  sent  thee  to  baptise?        ?  1870 

The  Track  of  the  War  around  Metz 1871 

On   the  Ancient  Wall    of   Gloucester,   and    some 

Roman  Remains  found  in  proximity  to  it  in  1873. 

(Proceedings,  Cotteswold  Naturalists'  Field  Club)    1875 


386  APFENDlX—continued 

Notes  on  Offa's  Dyke  :  the  Black  Rock  at  New  Pass- 
age: Caldicot  Castle.     (Proceedings  C.N.F.C.)     1875 

The  Roman  Wall  of  Gloucester.  (Transactions, 
Bristol  and  Gloucestershire  Archaeological  So- 
ciety)   1876 

On  some  Archaeological  Remains  in  Gloucester 
relating  to  the  burning  of  Bishop  Hooper.  (Pro- 
ceedings, C.N.F.C.)  1878 

On  some  Bronze  and  other  Articles  found  near 
Birdlip.     (Transactions,  B.  &  G.  A.  S.) .1 

A  Week's  Holiday  in  the  Forest  of  Dean.  By  Col. 
Holland  and  John  Bellows.  This  has  been  fre- 
quently re-issued,  with  slight  variations  from  the 
first  edition 1881 

Remarks  on  some  Skeletons  found  at  Gloucester  in 

1881.  (Transactions,  B.  &G.  A.  S.)        1882 

Chapters  of  Irish  History         1886 

Roman  Wareham  and  the  Claudian  Invasion.  (Pro- 
ceedings, Dorset  Natural  History  and  Antiquarian 
Field  Club) 1892 

William  Lucy  and  his  friends  of  the  Cotteswold 
Club  five-and-thirty  years  ago.  (Proceedings, 
C.N.F.C.) 1894 

On  the  Past  in  the  Present  in  Asia.  (Proceedings, 
American  Antiquarian  Society) .. 

Chisel-drafted  Stones  at  Jerusalem.  (Palestine 
Exploration  Fund  Quarterly  Statement,  July, 
1896) 1896 

Evolution  in  the  Monastic  Orders :  Roman  Work 
at  Chepstow  :  Roman  Remains  at  Bath.  (Pro- 
ceedings, C.  N.  F.  C.)         1898 

Survivals  of  Roman  Architecture  in  Britain.  (Pro- 
ceedings, C.  N.  F.  C.)        

The  Browns  of  Bartonbury.     (Friends'  Quarterly 

Examiner)     1899 

The  Forest  of  Dean.  (Proceedings,  American  Anti- 
quarian Society)      

The  Romans  in  Gloucestershire.     (Lecture  to  the 

Cheltenham  Natural  Science  Society)     1900 


APPENDIX— continued  387 

The  Truth  about  the  Transvaal  War  and  the  Truth 
about  War.  (Translations  also  in  French  and 
German)        1900 

The  England  of  the  time  of  the  War  of  Indepen- 
dence.    (Proceedings,    American    Antiquarian 

Society)         1901 

Etc.,  Etc. 

LETTERS  AND  ARTICLES  IN  NEWSPAPERS,   ETC. 
AFTERWARDS  PRINTED  AS  LEAFLETS. 

Why  I  ought  not  to  keep  '  Christmas.' 

What  is  ;£i,ooo,ooo?:   The  Union  of  Hearts:  Pauperism 

in  Ireland  :  and  others. 
Education,  Emigration,  and  Colonization :  a  unified  System. 
Overstrained  'Free'  Trade  (1887.) 
Prince  Lucien  Bonaparte. 
Daniel  Wheeler's  Farm  at  Shushari  (Russia.) 
A  Russian  Railway  Journey  in  Winter. 
The  Georgian  Road  through  the  Caucasian  Mountains. 
The  Mediation  of  the  Virgin. 
Oliver  Wendell  Holmes. 
Alexander  III. 

Oxford  Extension  Lectures  on  the  Reformation. 
John  Soper. 
Peculiarities  in  Speech. 
Prayer. 
Letter  to  Senator  Hoar  on   the  Transvaal  War  ('  New 

York  Tribune.')    Also  issued  in  French. 
Letter  to  the   Students    of   the   Penn    Charter    School, 

Philadelphia. 
African  Concentration  Camps  ('New  York  Tribime.') 


John  Bellows  was  the  inventor  of  a  cylindrical  calculator  for  the 
rapid  and  accurate  reckoning  of  workmen's  wages.  He  also  compiled 
a  series  of  concentric  calculators  for  converting  the  metric  system 
into  English  equivalents,  and  vice  versa. 


INDEX 


ADAMS,  Charles  F.,  345 

Adams,  James,  273,  275,  279,  283, 

Agdam,  203,  204  [286 

Akara,  River,  189 

Alexander  III,  Emperor,  254,  255 

Alexis,  Monk,  iii,  112 

Ali  Akber,  198,  201 

Ali  Bek,  156,  183 

Ali  Hassan,  197 

Ambrose,  258 

America,  visit  to,  338-356 

American  Antiquarian  Society,  247 

248,  304 
American  friends,  40,  338 
American  missionaries,  282 
Amesbury,  Whittier's  home    at, 

339,  352,  353 
Ardeche  scenery,  42-44,  47 
Ardouin,  Joannin,  letter  to,  370 
Armenian    Massacres,    273,    282, 

287,  289 
Refugees,  274-277,  279- 

281,  285,  286,  287, 

BAILEY,  Joshua  L.,  340 
Balaklava,  229 
Balfour,  Arthur  J.  296 
Baptism,  52,  125 
Barclay's  '  Apology,'  6,  372 
Barda,  179,  204 
Bashketchet,  212,  216 
Batoum,  227,  228 
Bechuana  Chiefs,  265,  266 
Beljame,  Professor  Alexandre,  23 
Beljame,  Professor  Auguste,  23 
Bellows,  Dorothy,  228, 235, 249,  279 

,  letter  to,  333 

Bellows,  Ebenezer  Forster,  2, 9, 382 
Bellows,  Emily,  death  of,  48 
Bellows  family,  American  branch 

of,  339 
Bellows,  Hannah,  319 

,  letters  to,  279,  313 

Bellows,  Hannah,  {nee  Stickland) 

I,  2,  8,  36 
Bellows,  Dr  Henry  W.,  21,  339 


BELLOWS,  JOHN : 

Parentage,  i ;  childhood,  2 ;  at 
Lisburn  School,  2;  removal  to 
Camborne,  2 ;  apprenticeship,  3 ; 
remarkable  memory,  3  ;  early 
essays,  3 ;  goes  to  London,  4 ; 
back  at  Camborne,  4  ;  removes  to 
Gloucester,  4 ;  punctuality,  4 ;  life 
at  Gloucester,  5 ;  becomes  con- 
vinced Quaker,  6  ;  gives  up 
smoking,  7  ;  studies,  7  ;  goes  into 
business,  8 ;  parents  move  to 
Gloucester,  8 ;  journey  to  Norway, 
9  ;  French  Dictionary  begun,  9  ; 
marriage,  10  ;  Churcham,  10  ; 
Professor  Max  Mliller,  10 ;  birth 
of  eldest  child,  10;  publication  of 
Outline  Dictionary^  14  ;  Franco- 
German  War,  15  ;  Track  of  the 
War  around  Metz,  17;  Dr  Oliver 
Wendell  Holmes,  21 ;  removal  to 
Eastgate,  22  ;  completion  of 
French  Dictionary,  23-25  ;  dis- 
covery of  the  Roman  wall  of 
Gloucester,  25 ;  interest  in  Roman 
antiquities, 27-32;  Cornish  friends, 
33 ;  death  of  parents,  36,  37  ; 
American  friends,  40 ;  holiday  in 
France,  42-47  ;  death  of  child,  48 ; 
builds  'Upton  Knoll,'  50;  Home 
Rule  struggle,  61-69 ;  visit  to 
Treves,  70-74 ;  visit  to  Germany, 
76-78  ;  home  life,  82-85  ;  archaeo- 
logy, 88-90;  J.  A.  Froude,  94 ;  visit 
to  Paris,  97 ;  journey  to  Russia, 
100-245;  Petersburg,  107-116; 
South  Russia,  11 7-231  ;  Count 
Tolstoi,  119;  return  to  Gloucester, 
239  ;  Senator  George  F.  Hoar, 
247  ;  American  Antiquarian 
Society,  247  ;  Paignton,  249-251 ; 
Khama,  265;  journey  to  Varna  and 
Constantinople,  273-289 ;  Hague 
Peace  Conference,  301  ;  Iruth 
about  the  Transvaal  War,  307 ; 
Doukhobors,    318-337  ;    Slavery 


INDEX — continued 


389 


in  Pemba,  329 ;  second  journey  to 
Russia,  330-334 ;  visit  to  United 
States,  338-356 ;  honorary  degree. 
Harvard,  351 ;  failing  health,  360 ; 
action  with  regard  to  '  Resurrec- 
tion,* 360,  361 ;  Lake  District,  363 ; 
illness,  364;  Roman  antiquities, 
372-4 ;  traits  and  characteristics, 
375 ;  independence  of  thought, 
375 ;  teetotalism,  376;  vegetarian- 
ism 376;the  theatre  andmusic,  377 ; 
enjoyment  of  life,  377  ;  relations 
with  employees,  377 ;  sympathy 
with  the  poor,  378  ;  acknowledg- 
ment of  errors,  380;  French 
'boursiers,'  381  ;  death,  383  ; 
funeral  at  Painswick,  383 
Bellows,  John  Earnshaw,  82-85, 
228,  235,  249,  251,  300 

,  letter  to,  354 

Bellows,  Katharine,  249,  345 

,  letters  to,  270,  278 

Bellows,  Lucy,  56,  221,  249 

,  letter  to,  332 

Bellows,  Marian,  249 

,  letters  to,  115,  151,  252 

Bellows,  Max,  10,  21,  27,  57,  70,  96, 

,  letters  to,  103,  353    [249 

Bellows,  Philip,  250,  251,  338,  382 

,  letter  to,  316 

Bellows,  William,  249,  341 

,  letters  to,  92,  109,  258 

Bellows,  William  Lamb,  i,  2,  8,  37, 

375 
Bells,  sound  of,  105,  232,  237,  240 
Bible  Society,  9 
Birukofif,  325 
Blackie,  Professor,  24 
Black  Sea,  223,  224,  226-229,  230 
Boissier,  Gaston,  245 
Bolton,  Clara,  159 
Bolton,  William,  162,  168,  169 
Bonaparte,  Prince  L.  Lucien,  25 
Bonet-Maury,  Professor,  letters  to. 
Borough  English,  294        [3^1 »  266 
Boston,  343-345,  355 
Bright,  John,  66,  380 
Brooks,  Edmund  Wright,  265,  330, 
Brown,  James,  167,  173     L335;  37© 
Browne,  Sir  Thomas,  366,  367 
Bucharest,  273,  284 
Budapest,  283 
Bulgaria,  273,  277-281 
Bunyan,  John,  256 

CAERLEON,  89,  258,  259,  373,  374 
Camborne,  2,  3,  4 

,  Chapel  anecdote,  62 

Campbell,  Sir  James,  303 


Carleton,  Colonel,  letters  to,  251, 

257,  289,  295,  312,  340,  357 
Caucasus,  125-128,  153,  170,  213, 

224,  238,  241 

,  brigands  in,  178,  181,  205 

,  Governor-General  of,  160 

Cave-dwellings,  199,  207,  244 
Caxton,  58 
Celtic  dialects,  66 
Chamberlain,  Joseph,  265,  266 
Chelsea,  Carlyle's  house,  268,  269 
Child,  death  of,  48 
Children,  Letter  on,  33 

,  Society  of  little,  82 

Children,  illness  of  his,  49 
,  letters  to  his,  209,  277, 

288,  339,  342,  344,  347,  349 
Christ,  Divinity  of,   120,  233,  234 

370,  37I;  372 
Christie,  Dr,  290,  292 
Church  of  England,  5 
Church  of  Rome,  4 
Church,  Professor,  letter  to,  308 
Clitheroe,  marriage  at,  10 
Concentration,  power  of,  33 
Concord,  visit  to,  349 
Confederate  bank-notes,  14 
Confucius,  267,  370,  371 
Constantinople,  286-288 
Cornish  friends,  33 
names  and   antiquities, 

10-13 
Cornwall,  10-13,  78,  91 
Correspondents,  letters  to,  39,  64, 

259 
Cossacks  of  the  Don,  320 
Cotteswold  Hills,  29,  31,  50,  51,  364 
Cotteswold  Naturalists'  Field  Club, 

26,  42 
Crickley,  discovery  of  graves  near, 
Cromwell,  269  [31 

Cyrus,  145,  154,  196 

DAGHESTAN  Mountains,  205 
Daliar,  155,  157,  158 
Death,  views  on,  36,  37 
Dictionary,  French,  9,  23-25,  339, 

Outline,  13  [352 

Dioscurias,  243 

Dobell,  Mrs  Sydney,  letter  to,  261 
Douglas,  David,  239 
Doukhobors,    163,   217,    263,   264, 

297,  318-337,  360,  361 
in  Canada,  319,  327,  328, 

330,  336 
in  Cyprus,  319,  325,  328, 


330 
Dyk,  Armenian  village  of,  194,  200 
Dyrham,  96 


390 


INDEX — continued 


EASTGATE  House,  22,  23 
Earnshaw,  Elizabeth,  10 
Earnshaw,  Hugh  Granger,  9 
Earnshaw,  Mark,  10 
Eisenach,  76,  77 
EUot,  President,  352,  370 
EHott,  Mary,  78  [208 

Elizabethpol,  154,  156,  167,  172, 
Elkinton,  Joseph  letters   to,  330, 

334,  336 
Elkmton,  Joseph  S.,  335,  338,  339 
Elkinton,  Malinda,  338 
Emerson,  Charles,  304 
Emerson,  Dr  Edward,  350 
Emerson,  Miss,  350 
Emerson,    Ralph    Waldo,    56-60, 

304,  305,  350 
Erskine's,  'Spiritual  Order,'  308 
Evans,  Henry  T.,  letter  to,  92 
Evans,  William,  340 
Extracts  from  letters,  341,  354 

FAST,  Hermann,  119, 123, 159, 161, 

174,  206,  237,  335 
Fenelon,  34 
Forest  of  Dean,  32,  303 
Forster,  William  and  Anna,  2 
Forster,  William  Edward,  2 
Fothergill,  Dr,  306  [280 

Fox,  Dr  Hingston,  letters  to,  273, 
Francis,  Alexander,  110,  114,  237, 
Franco-German  War,  15-22  [238 
Frankfort,  synagogue  at,  132,  146, 
Frazer,  Katherine,  286  [151 

French  'boursiers,'  381 
French  Republic,    Centenary   of, 

98,  99 
Friends,   Society  of,   2,   5,  9,    15, 

100, 102, 103, 105, 1 10, 318, 330, 360 
Armenian  Relief  Fund, 

282,  283 


Meeting  for  Sufferings, 
239;  296,  320 

Meeting  on  Peace,  letter 


to,  313 

Testimony  againstWar,  16 

3M;  315 

Yearly  Meeting,  37 


Frithiof's  Saga,  226,  250 
Froude,  James  Anthony,  94 

GEORGIAN    road    through    the 
Caucasian  Mountains,  the,  126 
Germany,  visits  to,  70,  76 
Gerusi,  176,  197,  199,  207,  244 
Glevum,  25-32,  295,  379  [373 

Gloucester,  4,  5,  30,  247,  271,  295 
Goktcha,  Lake,  155  [226 

Greek  Church,  100,  116,  169,  212, 


Green,  James,  letters  to,  40,  46 

48,  49,  50,  286 
Green,  Dr  Samuel,  345 
Gregorio witch,  177,  192,  198,  200 

HAGUE  Peace  Conference,  301 

Halley,  Robert,  i 

Handlow  House,  Churcham,  10,  22 

Harris,  Rendel,  282 

Harvard  University,  339,  351,  370 

Haudelin,  Dr,   144,   145,  160,   165, 

Hewlett,  Joe,  312  [167 

Hilkoff,  Prince,  212,  216-220,  328 

Hilton,  William,  112,  237 

Hoar,    Senator    George   F.,    247, 

303;  338,  346,  347,  350,  351 
letters  to,  248,  255,  256, 

264,  268,  305,  355,  364,  367 
letters   from,   247,    304, 

352,  366,  368 

,  his  'Autobiography,'  247 

Hoar,  Mrs,  344,  367 

Hoar,  John,  345 

Hoar,  Rockwood,  239 

Hoar,  Samuel,  345,  349      [309,  320 

Hodgkin,  Dr  Thomas,  letters  to 

Holland,  William,  letters  to,  300, 

303,  325,  351,  358,  361 
Holmes,  Dr  Oliver  Wendell,   21, 

248,  304,  345 
,  letters  to,  56,  70,  79,  81, 

95,  97,  239 

-,  letters  from,  21,  48,  55, 


74,  86,  246 
Holmes,  Chief  Justice  O.W.,  345 

,  letters  to,  271,  281,  292, 

Home,  Bruce,  letters  to,  37-8  [362 

Home  Rule,  61-69 

Htibner,  Dr  Emil,  28  [65,  87 

,  letters  to,  29,  30,  31,  32, 

,  letter  from,  379 

Hyett,  William  Henry,  1 1 3 

IRELAND,  61,  269 

Irish  Landowner,  letter  to,  67 

JAMES,  John  Angell,  i 

Jason's  Fleece,  222 

Jewill,  Paul,  letters  to,  52,  53 

KARS,  219,  231 

Kasbek,  Mount,  128,  170,  241 

Kedabek,  155,  158-160,  164-167 

Kenchester,  87-90 

Khama,  265,  266 

Khan-i-bagh,  183 

King,  Friends'  address  to  the,  316 

Knox,  Major,  letter  to,  298 

Koura,  River,  134,  145,  154,  170 

Kutais,  221,  222  [206,  241 


INDEX— continued 


391 


LAKE  District,  the,  362,  363 

Lamb,  Charles,  146 

Lamb,  Philip,  i 

Latimer,  358 

Legge,  Professor,  267 

Leipzig,  76-78 

Liberal  Unionist  Association,  61 

Liberal  Unionist  Association,  let- 
ters to  Secretary  of,  62,  63,  66 

Liberal  Unionist  official,  letter  to, 

Lisburn  School,  2  [6S 

Liskeard,  i,  78 

Lord,  Arthur,  345,  347 

Lowell,  James  Russell,  81,  82,  86, 
87,  96,  304 

Lucy,  William  C,  26,  42 

Luthdr,  Martin,  76,  239 

MACAULAY,  256 
Magna  Castra,  S7,  89 
Mahomedanism,  156 
Makharoff,  Admiral,  332 
Marrot,  Auguste,  23 
Matson  House,  30 
Maurice,  Frederick  Denison,  308 
Max  MUller,  Professor,  10,  18,  112 

,  letters  to,  10,  ir,  12, 

13,  19,  26,  28,  36 
Max  Mttller,  Mrs,  10 
Metz,  relief-work  at,  15-18   [17,  21 
Metz,  '  Track  of  the  War  around,' 
Michell,  Francis,  letters  to,  33,  76, 
Milner,  Gamaliel,  letter  to,  297  [331 
Minden,  104,  106,  238 
Molokani,  colony  of,  215 
Morier,  Sir  Robert,  113,  237,  238 
Morier,  Lady,  237 
Moscow,  118,  233-236,  333 
Mosque,  141 
Motley,  40 
Mowat,  J.,  87 

NAMES,  origin  of,  10-12,  29,  374 

Neave,  Joseph  James,  100,  loi, 
102,  103,  105,  107,  no,  113,  116, 
117,  124,  136,  137,  139,  151,  159, 
172,  174,  180,  183,  187,  189,  191, 
192,  200,  208,  229,  236,  318,  334 

,  letters  to,  102,  254,  319, 

327,  328,  335 

Neva,  River,  232,  240 

New  England,  visit  to,  342-354 

Newton,  Llewellyn,  3 

Niagara,  visit  to,  341 

Nicholson,  William,  237 

Nicolay,  Baron,  237 

Nonconformist  ancestors,  i 

Norway,  9 

Novorossisk,  228 


ORDNANCE  Survey,  32,  372 

Ovannes,  288 

'Over  the  Teacups,'  79,  87 

PAIGNTON,  249 

Paris,  visit  to,  97  [313-316 

Peace  principles,  21,  268,  297,  308, 
Peck,  Thomas  Bellows,  329 
Peitsmeyer,  David,  105 
Petersburg,  107-116,  231,  232,  236, 
Phasis,  222  [237,  240,  332 

Philadelphia,  338,  339-341 
Philadelphia,  Friends  at,  338,  340, 
Philippopolis,  289  [341,  354 

Plumbe,  William,  letter  to,  51 
Plymouth,  Mass.,  347-349 
Poetry,  58,  59 
Poti,  221,  222 
Power,  Edward,  8 
Prayer,  261,  262 
Prescott,  40,  345 
Prince,  George,  in,  237 
Putnam,  Elizabeth,  letter  to,  268 
Puy  de  Dome,  visit  to,  45 

QUAKERISM,  5-7,  290,  292,  309 

RABBI  in  Tiflis,  147,  148 
Rasche,  Louis,  104,  105,  106,  239 
Rawnsley,  Canon,  362 
Redemption  Rock,  345-347 
Renan,  E.,  98 
Resignation,  38 
Rhoads,  Jonathan,  335 
Rion,  River,  222,  223 
Rolleston,  Professor,  25 
Roman  Antiquities,  25-32,  46,  88, 

89;  97,  257,  271,  272,  289 
Architecture,  survival  of, 

lecture  on,  328  [374 

roads,  32,  89, 97,  1 14,  372- 

Wall,  Gloucester,  25-27,  295 

Empire,  extension  of,  70 


Romans  in  Roumania,  284,  285 
Rowlandson,  Mary,  345 
Runeberg,  the  poet,  79 
Russia,  visits  to,  107-238,  330-334 
Rustchuck,  275,  285 

SAINTBRIDGE  House,  50 

St.  Petersburg  (see  Petersburg) 

Saksaran,  mountain,  188 

Salisbury,  Lord,  69 

Salisbury,  Stephen,  letter  to,  359 

Saloman,  Abraham,  133,  135,  143, 

Schamyl,  130,  134  [145,  148 

Selheim,  Dr,  237 

Selheim,  Mrs,  237 

Sevastopol,  230 


392 


INDEX— continued 


Shelley,  79,  256 
Sherston,  Wiltshire,  96 
Shusha,    156,    176,    181, 
Sibree,  John,  23 
Siemens,  William,  165 
Silchester,  88 
Skarvan,  Dr,  322 
Slavery  in  Pemba,  329 
Slavianka,  Doukhobor  village  ofj 
Smith,  Louisa,  letter  to,  290 
Smoking,  gives  up,  7 


184,    187, 
L202,  203 


[163 


Soper,  John,  letter  to,  249 

Spurrell,  William,  66 

Staal,  Baron  de,  301,  302 

Stephen,  Leslie,  367 

Sterling,  Miss,  308 

Stickland,  John,  i 

Strabo,  155,  163,  170,  207,  228,  243 

Stundists,  100,  335 

Sturge,  Wilson,  221,  222,  223,  319, 

Sukhum  Khale,  243  [328 

Symmachus,  258 

Sympathy,  98,  255,  259,  364 

S3magogue  at  Tiflis,  145,  151 

TANGYE,  George,  letter  to  35 

Tangye,  James,  ^3 

Tasso,  136 

Tavistock,  i 

Tchertkoff,  Vladimir,  300,  321 

Temperance,  376 

'Terminus,'  60 

Theatre,  the,  377 

Thoreau,  Henry  D.,  304,  350 

Tiflis,  136-154,   156,  167,212,221, 

224,  242,  243 
Tithe,  objection  to,  92-94 
Tolstoi,  Count,  118,  261,  262,  264, 

265,  319;  321,  327,  370,  372 
,  visits  to,  1 19-122,  232- 

235,  334 
,  letters  from,  263,  361 


Tolstoi,  Count,  his  'Resurrection,' 

360,  361 
Tolstoi,  Count  Sergius,  327 
Tolstoi,  Countess  Mary,  233,  235 
Tolstoi,  Alexandra,  234 
Tolstoi,  Ivan,  234 
Tools,  Cornish,  140,  143, 

,  ancient,  166,  248 

Trans-Caucasus,  108,  136-226,  243 
Transvaal  War,  307,  309 
Trees,  Music  in  the,  367-369 
Treves,  70-73 
Tsar,  petition  to  the,  330 

UDZHARRI,  168,  173,  176,  223 
'Upton  Knoll,'  50,  61,  233 

VALS,  visit  to,  42 
Varna,  273,  278-281 
Vaux,  George,  340 
Vegetarianism,  226 
Vladikafkas,  119,  122,  123 

WALLIS,  Liskeard,  i 
War,  views  on,  18-21,  308 
Weir,  Harrison,  letter  to,  90 
Wesleyans,  2 

White,  Andrew  D.,  114,  240,  264, 

Whittier,  86,  96,  339,  352  [351 

Wife,  his,  10,  50,  53,  103,  235,  249, 

268,  273,  277,  279,  287,  288,  352 

,  letters  to,  36,  42,  44,  45, 

46,  104,  106,  107,  108,  109,  113, 
114,  115,  116,  119,  122,  123,  136, 

137,  141,  145,  149,  153,  155;  158, 
168,  176,  181,  187,  203,  212,  221, 
222,  224,  226,  229,  231,  232,  236, 
330,  332,  333 

Wiffen's  translation  of  Tasso,  49 
Worcester, Mass.,  visit  to,  338,  359 
Wordsworth,  41,  49,  58,  59,  304 

ZABOUCH,  village  of,  190,  200 


THE   END 


GLOUCESTER:  PRINTED  BY  MAX  AND  WILLIAM  BELLOWS 


S.I 


40G 


^1    195S 


RETURN       LIBRARY  SCHOOL  LIBRARY 

TOBi#>       2  South  Hall                                 642-2253 

LOAN  PERIOD  1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

ALL  BOOKS  AAAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 

DUE   AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


'AY  27 1983 


rjir.    i 


FORM  NO.  DD  18,  45m,  6V6         UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELEY 

BERKELEY,  CA  94720 


YD 


